Human Cloning Essay, Research Paper

Have you ever heard anyone make a statement similar to this one, Everyone has an identical twin somewhere in the world. Well, ever since most of us have been young, we can recall hearing this at least once or twice. The one thing to be questioned here is, Could it be true? As of now, there is no proof that it is true, but if science keeps advancing as it has been, then in a very short period of time, this could be a true statement. The way this would happen would be through the new technology of human cloning.

To clone someone you would create another person, who in essence is, their identical twin, at least genetically. Although, technically, this has not yet been accomplished, it seems to be very close to happening. Scientist have predicted that within the next few years a human will be cloned (What is a Clone ).

First, to start off, one person is quoted as saying, There are many ways in which human cloning is expected to benefit mankind. Scientists have stated that cloning can be used to reverse heart attacks. To do this the healthy heart cells would first be carefully cloned, and then injected intot the areas of the heart that have been damaged (Human Cloning Foundation).

Human stem cells, which are also thought to be cloned by scientists, can be grown to produce organs or tissues. These embryonic stem cells would then replace or repair the damaged ones. A few examples of this type of procedure would be skin for burn victims, new brain cells for those who are or have become brain damaged, and also many vital organs (Human Cloning Foundation).

The third main reason human cloning will benefit mankind is the fact that, with cloning, infertile parents could have themselves cloned. This way they could raise a child that truly was their child (Human Cloning Foundation).

One of the most pressing questions about human cloning is, Is it Ethical? This is a very hard question to answer, and you will have to form your own opinion. There are many religious leaders and followers who are against the whole idea of cloning. Of course, most people do have many questions concerning the subject.

On the exact opposite note, there are religions and organizations that support cloning. There is a so-called religious group who has based all their beliefs on the idea of human cloning. Followers call it the Raelian Movement, and the leader of it all is a guy with the last name of Rael.

Everyone will need to form his or her own opinion about human cloning. Much information should be considered in order to make an educated decision, but first, lets consider: Human Cloning: Can and Should it be Done?

How about a list of all the animals that have been cloned (thus far)? The first-ever-cloned animal was a frog. This frog was cloned by a Mr. J.B.Gordon and the task was performed at Oxford University in the year 1960. The first mammal to be cloned was a mouse in the year 1981. The first-ever-cloned livestock was a sheep in August 1984, and it was not announced until the story appeared in Nature magazine in the year 1986. There have also been others such as: cows, rabbits, pigs, goats, and primates (Cloning Firsts).

Recently, human cloning has become more of a reality than ever. Some amazing animal cloning projects have been done in the past few years, these include projects like Dolly the sheep. You see, Dolly was special because she was cloned from an adult cell, which had never been done before. To understand this, the basic idea of how Dolly the sheep was cloned needs to be explained. Well, first the unfertilized eggs are flushed out of a sheep, which has been induced to produce a larger then normal number of eggs. Previously, a sample of tissue was taken from the udder of 6-year-old ewe (female sheep) and cultured in a dish (Dolly 1). The cultured cells are starved to send them into a resting or quiescent state. Then, comes the fusion, a cell id placed beside the egg and an electrical current used to fuse the couplet. Next come the culture, the reconstructed embryo is put into culture and is able to grow for seven days. Then, the development starts and the embryos, which grow successfully, are taken and transferred to a sheep, which is at the same stage of the oestrus cycle as the egg. The last step to all of this would be that the sheep becomes pregnant and produces a lamb after 21 weeks (How to Clone a Sheep).

Dolly was cloned at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was cloned in 1996-97. Dolly is an exact copy of her donor mother, the 6-year-old ewe. The scientist who cloned Dolly, Dr. Ian Wilmut, says Dolly was the success of 1 in 277 samples. As stated earlier, Dolly is the first animal ever to be cloned from a specialized adult cell (Dolly the Sheep).

There have been other significant animal clones since Dolly. Some examples are as follows: On February 16, 1998, U.S. scientists cloned a Holstein cow who was soon named Gene . On July 5, 1998, a single cow was cloned into two identical calves in Japan. Another example is the fact that some mice were cloned at the University of Hawaii on July 22, 1998. On august 19, 1998, a near extinct species of cow found only in New Zealand was cloned. Then, on August 25, 1998, a wealthy couple donated $2.3 million to Texas A&M University to clone their dog, Missy (Cloning Timeline).

To better explain why Dolly was so special; in previous experiments with cattle and mice, the donor chromosomes came from very early embryos, or in the case of cloned frogs, from young tadpoles. Early embryos that are from mammals are called blastocysts, or balls of immature cells that are produced after a fertilized egg divides several times, but before any specialized tissues begin to develop. Very recently, Rhesus monkeys have been cloned from embryonic cells in blastocysts by a method called nuclear transfer (What is a ).

As a result of the growing popularity of cloning, and the specific interest in the cloning of humans, many organizations have surfaced. Some are very legitimate, while others do not seem quite as authentic. There are businesses that actually offer to clone people for the right price, of course) one of the most popular of these is called Clonaid, but back tot he more legit organizations. One of these, which is fairly interesting, is called The International Cloning Society or ICS for short. The ICS is essentially a body of people who have expressed an interest in being cloned at some point in the future. The Society, is currently working on making arrangements to collect, store, and preserve the cell/DNA specimens of these members who elect to make themselves available to be cloned, under specific and stated circumstances, in the future. At this point, the Society is very private (International Cloning Society).

Yet another breakthrough in human cloning, and this one has come undoubtedly close to being a human clone possibly the closest so far. A company in Massachusetts, Advanced Cell Technology, took a cell from a research scientist, Dr. Jose Cibelli, and combined it with a cow s egg from which all the genes had been removed. Surprisingly, the genes activated and the egg began to divide in the normal way up to the 32-cell stage, but then it was destroyed, unfortunately. The scientists working with this experiment believe that, if allowed to continue beyond implantation the cell would have grown into Dr. Cibelli s identical twin. Technically, 1% of the human clone s genes would have belonged to the cow. The biggest and scariest new here is that this whole incident was kept a secret for nearly three year (Humancow).

To the majority of Americans and humans as a whole, the idea of cloning is irrational, illogical, and just plain scary. There is always fear of the unknown, and this is exactly what it boils down to. Cloning is unknown and misunderstood so people shun the idea. Of course, if cloning is ever accomplished the technology of it could also be abused, so there are a few reasons for fear. So, if this next statement were broadcast worldwide over satellites, you have to wonder what the reactions would be like. Say this is how the broadcast went: Now we go to Dr. Richard Seed, Ph.D for an alarming announcement! It is my objective to set up a human clone clinic in greater Chicago here, make it a profitable fertility clinic I ve said many times that you can t stop science God made man in his own image. God intended for man to become one with God cloning and the reprogramming of DNA is the first serious step in becoming one with God. With that, the announcer would come back on, and controversies would be stirred up worldwide. Well, Dr. Seed did say all of this in an interview with The National Public Radio. Dr. Seed expe4cts to create a human clone within 1 + years from now. He appears to be the first scientist to state he has the intentions and the means to clone a human. He claims he has a team of physicians and four couples willing to be cloned. See only lacks one thing at this point, and that is funding. He says he has raised a few hundred thousand but need nearly $2 million. Can Seed really carry out his plans, and are they really possible? Once again, Human Cloning: Can and Should it be Done?

In more than one of these stories of cloning, the news was old and practically history by the time the public was informed. First there is a list of First Clones which were only released in the past two year. Then, there is the Dolly story that was nearly eight months old when made public, and finally there is the Dr. Cibelli story, which was kept secret for three years. It seems quite odd that everything we find out about cloning is past stories and history, makes you wonder what kind of cloning discoveries are being made now that society will now know about until the year 2002 or ever 2003!

After all my research on this topic, I am firmly against human cloning. Of course, it may have benefits if ever accomplished, but I don t think it is worth the risk. Too many people in this world have twisted minds and if the important discoveries are uncovered, the information could fall into the wrong hands. After learning some about human cloning, what do you think?

Cloning Firsts. Dolly the Sheep. Microsoft Internet Explorer. http://library.advanced.org/20015/index-en.html. April 24, 2000.

Cloning Timeline. Microsoft Internet Explorer. http://www.humancloning.org/dolly.htm. April 24, 2000.

How to Clone a Sheep. Microsoft Internet Explorer. http://www2.ri.bbsrc.ac.uk/library/research/cloning/howto.html. April 24, 2000.

Human Cloning Foundation. The Benefits of Human Cloning. Microsoft Internet Explorer. http://www.humancloning.org/benefits.htm April 24, 2000.

Humancow (Advanced Cell Technology). Microsoft Internet Explorer. http://www.globalchange.com/humancow.com.htm. April 24, 2000.

International Cloning Society. Microsoft Internet Explorer. http://www.suresite.com/wa/i/ics. April 24, 2000.

What is a Clone? Microsoft Internet Explorer. http://www.Science-education.nih.gov/nihHTML/use/snapshots/multimedia/ritn/dolly/index.html. April 24, 2000.