Negative Effects of Animal Cloning a Method

Negative Effects of Animal Cloning

A method used to produce multiple copies of a certain animal is referred to as animal cloning. The most frequently and latest method of cloning is called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. In this method, the nucleus is removed from one animal and replaced with a nucleus from the animal to be cloned Panno, 2009.

In most cases, the donor has to be an animal which has desirable traits. The cell will develop into an embryo that will be implanted into the surrogate mother. The born animal will have the same DNA as that of the donor animal, which will ensure that it will also have the same desirable traits.

Less biodiversity

Due to cloning and using of animals with the desirable traits, there is a likelihood that the animals cloned will all have the same DNA which will result in no biodiversity. This will mean that in case one animal is affected by a certain disease, there is a high chance that all the other cloned animals will be infected too. There are other far reaching consequences to this like a whole population of animals can be wiped out because of a particular disease. This will affect the whole food chain for other animals as well.

The lack of diversity in animals would lead to the weakening of the animals' ability for adaptation. Since cloning will use the DNA of certain animals, the resultant clones would not be able to adapt to environmental changes. Without diversity, the population of animals will not manage to adapt in order for its survival. As cloned animals will mostly have the same gene pool, there will not be any variable traits that would allow the cloned animals to adapt. Genetic diversity allows a species to evolve. Cloned animals will have less genetic variations and this would put the animals at greater risks.

Shorter life expectancy

Since cloned animals use cells obtained from adult animals, there is a likelihood that the adult's chromosomes are shorter than normal, which would result in the cloned animal having a shorter life span. Majority of research conducted has indicated that cloned animals mostly live for half the expected life span of normal animals Gregory & Grandin, 2007.

This means that if cloning is adapted fully, there is a likelihood that some animals will become extinct much faster, or there will be need for constant cloning to ensure that no species is wiped out completely. The best example would be of Dolly, the first ever successful sheep cloning, lived for only 6 years, which is half the average age for a sheep.

The average birth rates are also very low for clones, for instance Dolly was the only clone born out of 277 embryos. This means that cloning is very inefficient. Even with successful cloning the animals will only live for half the expected life span. Cloning makes use of adult chromosomes, which means that the cloned animal would have the genetic of a mature and aging animal. This is another reason why the clones have a shorter life expectancy. The cloned animal would have a normal appearance, but it has inherited some abnormalities from its donor.

Adverse health

Cloned animals may look normal for days, weeks, or even months after birth, but there are some other effects that will affect the cloned animals. Research has shown that though clones may seem normal, there is a high likelihood that the clones will develop some defects later on in life. In a study conducted by Japanese scientists indicates that out of the twelve mice that they cloned, ten mice died before they were 800 days old. In natural mice, the result was totally different. Out of thirteen only three had died in the same period. The scientists said that the mice had compromised immunity.

The donor animal had all the desirable traits, but the scientists discovered that the animals had developed serious liver damage, pneumonia, leukemia, and lung cancer. There is also likelihood that the cloned animals will develop other abnormalities later on in life if they do survive at all. It had been observed that some animals developed obesity others had elongated certain parts of their chromosomes. The animals have the same genetic variations and would mean that they would all suffer from the same diseases. Lack of genetic variations would not allow the cloned animals to adapt to the changing environment. A weakened species would not survive.

It is not just the cloned animals that have adverse health. The surrogate mothers involved in the cloning process are also at risk of adverse health problems. The surrogate mothers for sheep and cows have been known to experience some gestational complications later on in life. Due to the number of miscarriages experienced by surrogate mothers, there is likelihood that the surrogate mothers will undergo a lot of pain and suffering.

Ethical concerns

When scientists create life in a laboratory it is viewed as thought they are playing God. There are many people who object to cloning of animals as they see it as scientists are experimenting and they decide on the fate of the cloned animals Rollin, 2006.

There are also other unpredictable factors that exist. Talk of cloning extinct animals may result in severe environmental implications. This is because these animals would disrupt the ecosystem as it no longer supports these species. There has also been talk of human cloning as a result of testing on animals.