Clone Essay, Research Paper

The Human Clay

On the sixth day God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he created him; male and female created he created them (Genesis 1:26-27). With the discovery of cloning, humans, like God, now have the power and the ability to create perfect humans. Things thought of as the impossible is now possible. Thanks to technological advances, science fairy tales is now achievable with the discovery of cloning. This 20th century idea defines cloning as the production of one or more individual plants or animals that are genetically identical to another plant or animal. And on February 23, 1997, Ian Wilmut, a Scottish scientist, and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute did just that. They were successful in creating a perfect clone of a sheep, named Dolly, who became the first large animal cloned from genetic material taken from an adult egg. With this new discovery, scientists have changed our science fiction fantasies into a scientific reality. Their contribution to the history of significant medical advancement has opened up beneficial possibilities like human cloning. In fact many scientist predict that within this decade, human cloning would not only be possible but it would already be done. Whether for the good or the bad, this ability to clone humans will change many peoples lives. However, there are many issues concerning human cloning. Because of its media attention and attractiveness, many have highly debated on this highly controversial issue and carefully analyzed the positive and negative aspects of human cloning. As a result, many countries, such as United States, have banned human cloning until they can develop a very educated decision to this life-changing discovery. But because of the rapid technological advances, it is only a matter of time until the breakthrough of the first human clone. With that in mind, humans must quickly make a stand whether human cloning should be allowed or prohibitted.

An advantage of human cloning is that human s will be able to expand human life. Humans have increased human life through medical advancements. Just like the discovery of medicine, cloning will enable humans to live longer and have the ability to conquer death. For instance, According to the (statistic) about genetic disorders. Genetic disorders can be eliminated in the human gene pool with the use of human cloning. Cloning could also be used to produce offspring free of certain diseases. For example, a number of disorders, including some affecting the eyes, brain, and muscles, are caused by flawed genes located in the mitochondria, energy-producing structures in the cytoplasm. By avoiding birth defects, human are able to prevent the high mortality rate of birth defects. (statistic) of human lives loss as children. Cloning will not only benefit children but also those who are in need for a particular donor. (anecdote about lack of donors) . With cloning, people will no longer have to wait for a donor, and instead of waiting, people can just get the correct blood that they need and if not live

like before but even healthier. According to (statistics) about how many people die because of the lack of donors. Cloning will save millions of lives all over the world. If not used to save lives then it should be used to make lives. Geneticists foresee a number of practical applications for the cloning of humans. Infertile couples who do not wish to adopt, for instance, could use cloning to have children who are biologically related to them.

It has been done before in medicine so why not with cloning.

If it works in humans as it has in other mammals, cloning will be technically possible, but also terribly inefficient and risky. According to experts, producing a single viable clone will require scores of volunteers to donate eggs and carry embryos–most of which will have major abnormalities and never come to term. The clones that do survive could suffer more subtle problems that might show up well after birth. Here’s how it might be done.

1 Doctors harvest up to 15 eggs each from up to 40 donors who have been injected with fertility drugs. About 400 eggs are produced

2 Cells are taken from the cloning candidate

3 The nucleus of each egg is sucked out with a fine needle. Then the DNA-free eggs and the donor cells are placed next to one another and zapped with electricity, which causes them to fuse. Some of the rebuilt eggs divide to form embryos.

4 Because embryos often fail to implant, each surrogate mother gets several at once. Even so, up to 50 surrogates could be needed (not necessarily all at once) to ensure nine or 10 pregnancies. Of these, most will terminate early by miscarriage or by abortion when abnormalities are found. The single viable baby may be normal. Or maybe not.

Even if human cloning provides numerous medical benefits, human cloning still raises its own share of dilemmas. A common objection is that when the originating person is compared with the clone, both may look the same but will be differentybecause the new child will not be unique. Many argue that the DNA of the egg, in which is donated, will contribute 1 percent of the genes because Not all of our DNA is in the cell nuclei or nucleus. A small amount is in the mitochondria, which are located in the cytoplasm and mostly produce fuel for cell functions. So, roughly the new child will only 99 percent genetically the same. In effect, without the mitochondrial DNA, the cell will not function normally and perhaps will result in deformity and worst yet, death. Today scientists believe that it would take a while until human cloning will be one hundred percent effective. Even if an infant human clone survived, there was no guarantee that it would develop normally.

According to Gregory Spence of University of Alabama, Dolly s creation resulted in using about 400 eggs. Of these, about 277 actually began to react with the donor nucleus. From these couplets, 29 reached a stage appropriate for implantation into 13 foster mothers, and only one sheep, named Dolly, survived long enough for media coverage. Taking 400 eggs to make one human clone is not the most efficient way for a medical use. It is like having to kill and sacrifice 399 potential human beings to make one human clone. These numbers are not enough to guarantee the safety and the normality of a cloned human. There can be physical as well as mental damages that can result in human cloning. In fact according to recent studies, scientists say that Dolly s cells are much older than what they had expected. They figured that since the genetic material in the body cells accumulates slight molecular changes as an organism ages and because the cell used to create Dolly came from a 6-year-old animal, Dolly’s chromosomes had certain characteristics normally found only in older animals. Therefore, this finding led some scientists to wonder whether Dolly, though appearing normal, might have inherited genetic damage that would eventually show up as premature aging or some other disorder. Evidently there are too many uncertain effects and have too many unknown factors involved which could harmfully affect many innocent lives. And because of the many unresolved failures, many scientists say that human cloning should be postponed until such questions are answered. And because different animals, including humans, are likely to respond differently to the procedures, people should consider the health hazards and be aware of the harmful effects of human cloning.

Because of its uncertainties United States acted quickly upon human cloning by having the Clone Bill Rights. In fact, it states, Every person’s DNA is his or her personal property. To have that DNA cloned into another extended life is part and parcel of his or her right to control his or her own reproduction. Constitutionally, that right is assigned to neither state legislatures, nor to the federal government, nor to religious authorities. It is “reserved” to each and every citizen, to decide if, how and when to reproduce. Research, not rhetoric, and/or freedom-limiting legal restrictions, is the only way to discover the real effects of cloning. Restrictions on research into cloning of humans should not even be considered unless real social harm can be demonstrated. These existing laws and institutions protect people from cloning exploitation. And because human cloning means taking other people s DNA, people are striped and robbed of their sense of identity and individuality. As a result, human cloning raises many contraversial and ethical issues. For instance, some believe that human cloning is a form of plagerism. Copying the same exact DNA, human cloning is stealing the genes of selected people. In doing so, humans are allowing people to cheat and steal there way in life.

In addition to concerns about specific harms to children, people have frequently expressed fears that the widespread practice of somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning would undermine important social values by opening the door to a form of eugenics or by tempting some to manipulate others as if they were objects instead of persons. Arrayed against these concerns are other important social values, such as protecting the widest possible sphere of personal choice, particularly in matters pertaining to procreation and child rearing, maintaining privacy and the freedom of scientific inquiry, and encouraging the possible development of new biomedical breakthroughs.

But still, some still argue that human cloning is not something new. Human s have made cloning naturally by giving birth to identical twins. So, in a similar way human cloning is an artificial way of making twins. However, there is a significant difference between a clone and a twin. The twin has no choice of being the same, and despite there physical similarities, the experiences they have aquired through their childhood will give them there own uniqueness. Even if humans had the authorization to clone a human. Many still worry, for example, about the psychological effects of a cloned child. The child would have to face and deal with serious issues that will greatly effect his future. By having this ability to clone, humans have not only found away to cheat death but also discovered new social and psychological issues that will effect everyones lives. As a result, by allowing human cloning, humans will not only disrupt the moral and ethical values of the society, but also change the our human morality.

Furthermore, the human gene pool will result in a complete standstill if human cloning would be legalized. Future generations would share certain genes and have perfection. As a result, people would not be able to evolve. Hardy, Weinberg, and the population geneticists who followed them came to understand that evolution will not occur in a population if six conditions are met: mutation is not occurring, natural selection is not occurring, the population is infinitely large, all mating is totally random mating , everyone produces the same number of offspring, and there is no migration in or out of the population. With the existence of human cloning, evolution will not occur simply because it defies all the laws of evolution. For instance,

That s because The only way nature controls human population is through diseases and viruses. In fact, throughout history it is evident that humans have evolved physically and mentally. As a result, nature has given us the advantage in surviving and adapting in our natural environment. In doing so, humans have no natural predators except themselves and of course diseases and viruses. Eliminating these factors from the human gene pool, humans are bound to have expanded human life and delay death. And by cheating death, cloning will exponentially increase the human population. Statistics believe… As a result, there will be human shortages in food and necessary resources that humans need for survival. There will be global devastation and people will suffer greatly. (statistic on food). If not diseases, people will die with famine Nature will eventually find a way to control human population whether famine, incurable diseases, or human extinction.