Debate over Cloning Controversy
Debate over Cloning Controversy
A clone is the name given for a group of organisms or other living matter with exactly the same genetic material. Genetic material consists of genes, which are the parts of cells that determine all characteristics of living things. It is not until recently that scientists have developed an experimental process for cloning higher animals, such as humans. This is a very technical process which involves first destroying the nucleus of an egg cell from the species to be cloned. Then a nucleus is removed from the cell of an animal of the same species and injected into the egg cell. The egg now has a new nucleus, and will develop into an animal with the same genetic makeup as the original donor. This process was successfully done as early as the 1950’s on amphibians, such as frogs. However it was not until 1996, that it was successfully completed on a mammal, a sheep, named Dolly. The question now is weather or not it is right to perform this same procedure on human stem cells.
The cloning of humans or any other animal for that matter has several positive and practical applications. One such application would be the cloning of transgenic animals (animals engineered to carry genes from other organisms, usually a species other than their own), which would allow us to produce a wide variety of proteins that could be sold as drugs. It would also allow the production of other proteins, called enzymes that could be used to speed up industrial chemical reactions. This one application could even be taken a step further. Envision the creation of genetically modified animals that could provide organs for human organ transplants. Or the mass production of faster growing and leaner livestock. Even the perpetuation of endangered species, it is all-possible with cloning.
Another possible use for cloning would be to clone humans. This has many foreseeable benefits such as infertile couples who do not wish to adopt, could use cloning to have children who are biologically related to them. Cloning could also be used to create children free from certain disorders, some known disorders that could be bypassed include ones that affect the eyes, brain, and muscles, these are at least partially caused by flawed genes located in the mitochondria. For a...