A Copied Essay, Research Paper

A Copied World Imagine a world where there existed a separate race of humans, a race that has no special distinction; but looks and acts exactly like normal humans. This world has been thought about for years. It’s been written in fiction books and novels for centuries, and in February 1997 this world may have possibly started to open itself to our society. This is the world of cloning. It was Saturday, February 24, 1997, to be exact, and Dr. Ian Wilmut, a 52-year-old embryologist at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Switzerland, announced that he had cloned an adult mammal. Recent developments in cloning of animal cells (such as the creation of the sheep “Dolly”) and the ban by President Clinton on cloning humans in the United States have brought much discussion of the ethics of cloning. The potential for improvements in health and research can bring us closer to the perfect being. Genetic cloning is a science that will have positive results for the further develop of the world. These futuristic scenarios are now part of the debate over human cloning as well. Some people are afraid that people like physicist Richard Seed, or someone like him, will open a cloning clinic. So lawmakers are rushing to make broad restrictions against human cloning. To date, 19 European nations have signed an anti-cloning treaty. Bill Clinton decided upon a proposal that would impose a five-year hold on cloning. Dick Armey, house majority leader, has thrown his weight behind a bill that would ban human cloning permanently, and at least 18 states are deciding on action of their own. “This is the right thing to do, at the right time, for the sake of human dignity,” said Armey. “How can you put a statute of limitations on right and wrong?” A lot of people also believe that cloning is like playing god but Michael Joplin, scientist for Washington University says, This technology is not playing God for we are only copying what is his creation. It would be just as stupid to say that Leonardo de Vinci was playing God when he drew a portrait. Scientists do not create new people, they just copy the information that is already there. At this time, scientists can barely create the simplest of cells, much less an organism as complex as a human being. Which should keep one thing in mind when cloning, is that it does not have to create a real life; it could just create specialized cells or tissues. For example, the leukemia patient, the cloned cells could provide fresh bone marrow, and for the burn victim, grafts of brand-new skin. Unlike cells from an unrelated donor, these cloned cells would be no danger to rejection; patients would not have to take powerful drugs to put down their immune system. “Given its potential benefit,” says Dr. Robert Winston, a fertility expert at London’s Hammersmith Hospital, “I would argue that it would be unethical not to continue this line of research.”

The cloning process would also help mankind by re-creating better plants and animals. Man has always been searching for ways to improve the food system in which we live on. The idea of foods being more nutritious and healthy has been a top concern for the consumer. The idea of creating an animal, free of disease has been a goal for animal farmers. These can all be possible thanks to the breakthrough in genetic cloning. Scientists can now clone the natural, genetically superior plants and animals that are used for foods to increase the human food supply, and make it more nutritious. This occurrence would allow consumers to choose from only the highest grade of meats, poultry, dairy, and fish. There are dangers, but not the ones everyone is talking about, according to Princeton University molecular biologist Lee Silver, author of Remaking Eden. Silver believes that cloning is the technology that will finally make it possible to apply genetic engineering to humans. First, parents will be able to get rid of inherited diseases like heart diseases. Then they will try to remove future problems of alcoholism and obesity. In the end, says Silver, they will attempt to change normal traits like intelligence and athletic ability. At present, introducing genes into chromosomes is very much a hit-or-miss scenario. Scientists might get one out of 20 tries to work, making the procedure way too risky to perform on a human. Through cloning, however, scientists could make 20 copies of eggs, greatly boosting their chance of success. The new breakthrough in genetic cloning can improve our way of life and enhance mankind. There are many flaws of life that mankind must live with, but the cloning technology can put an end to most of that. This new technology has potential only dreamed of in the past. The possibilities are endless. From a perfect food chain, to the wonderful act of creating life; genetic cloning is the best thing to happen to mankind. Cloning technology can provide a better way of life from the food system and curing of disease to the creation of life itself. This new breakthrough was one small step for Dolly, and one gigantic leap for mankind.