Cloning Essay, Research Paper

Cloning

This paper was written to show the reader with information on how cloning a

human is a good idea. It may be too soon right now to clone a human, but in the near

future scientists will be capable of cloning a human successfully.

The rapid development of the technology for cloning has led to moral debates

around the world on whether or not to ban cloning humans. With the advancement of

clone technology two states, California and Michigan, have already banned the cloning of

humans. “Everybody who thought it would proceed slowly and could be stopped was

wrong,” said Lee Silver, a professor from the University of Princeton. Without proper

research to support the ban, the premature ban should be reconsidered and appealed.

Cloning could provide a way for infertile couples to produce children genetically similar

to themselves, a method of creating spare organs for transplants, and a cure for genetic

disease. Human cloning may provide numerous benefits to mankind and should not be

banned.

Some people say that it is morally wrong and others are scared that a leader, such

as Sadam Husian, will clone himself. Maybe he will create some mindless duriods or

bring Hitler back from the dead and rule the world. They also think that some day we will

be able to go to the hospital and just pick up a baby one with the genetic material they

like the best. Then we will no longer need marriage and people will grow apart and live

alone most of their life.

Even though some people oppose the idea of cloning, most scientists and ethicists

agree that it is just a matter of time. Lee M. Silver, a biologist at Princeton University

and author of Remaking Eden, predicts that the first cloned human will quietly make its

way into the population, sneaking in when no one is looking. For those who want to

clone themselves or their children, Silver develops the following scenario: a dedicated

career woman named Jennifer decides at age thirty five that something is missing from

her life. That something is a child. She has no desire to marry, nor does she want to

introduce other genetic material and its possible risks into the fertilization process.

Although cloning is illegal in the United States, she travels to a Caribbean Island where it

is not. The clinic harvests a dozen of Jennifer’s unfertilized eggs, removes the nuclei, and

fuses them with donor cells taken from inside her mouth. Two embryos are transferred

to her womb. Back in New York, Jennifer learns that one of the embryos has implanted

at term. Nine months later Jennifer gives birth to Rachel, a child who is genetically her

twin sister. Jennifer tells no one, including the gynecologist who delivers Rachel, that

Rachel is a clone. She does tell Rachel, after she is grown, but like children born of

invitro fertilization, the news is not unsettling to her. Like the mother who provided

Rachel with genes and maternal influence, Rachel is a confident person with a well-

developed sense of herself ( ).

“Cloning is the creation of another person that is an exact copy of another person.

This definition leaves too much to the imagination and leads to misunderstanding of the

methods scientists use in cloning. In clear terms, cloning is the process in which DNA of

a female egg is replaced with different DNA from another cell. This process is referred

to as the Nuclear Transfer or Nuclear Substitution. DNA molecules are the strings of

protein that hold genetic coding. In this operation, the nucleus, which is the part of the

cell that contains the DNA, is carefully removed from an unfertilized female egg and

then replaced with the DNA from the cell of another person. The egg with the DNA

from another person is then manipulated into believing it has been fertilized and is

implanted into the womb of the mother just as is done in the process of invitro

fertilization. Afterwards the fetus develops and is born after nine months, just like a

natural baby. What this means is that the clone shares only the same DNA as the person

from which it was cloned. It shares none of the same memories, knows none of the same

people, and it will experience completely different things. The clone is like a much

younger identical twin. The person and the clone of the person share the same genetic

structure, which means the clone will look exactly like the original. Studies have shown

that identical twins who are raised apart often share similar personalities and intelligence,

even though possessed of entirely different experience and background.”( )

One important reason to continue cloning research is that it could provide a way

for infertile couples or homosexual couples with a way to create a genetically related

child. There are many couples in the world of which one of the partners is unable to

naturally donate his/her genes for the purpose of procreation. Only through cloning

technology will they be able to give birth to a child that is related to them genetically.

Ensuring that the family genes are passed on to future generations might be more

appealing to parents than adoption or using sperm and eggs from an unrelated donor. In

late 1997 Richard Seed announced that he would attempt to create a child using cloning

technology, and his post menopausal wife would be carrying the child. Seed, with no

medical credentials or funding, is not expected to succeed.

It is possible to create a full human being by cloning, but the clone does not have

to develop into a full human. Inhibitors can be injected into a growing clone so that only

certain organs will be produced. This process does not require a mother to carry the child

for nine months and can be done in a laboratory petri dish. This gives doctors a way to

create “spare parts” to be used in transplants. The major problems with transplants today

are organ rejections; it is important to find a donor that matches certain criteria so that

the immune system does not destroy the organ. For example, a liver can be grown

outside the body using the patient’s own DNA and used in a transplant without fear of

rejection. This will eliminate the need for anti-rejection drugs and provide for a healthier

recovery. Simple tissues such as skin cells have already been cloned in laboratories for

use in skin grafts for burn victims. Other things that have been cloned include blood

clotting factors for hemophiliacs, and plans to create specialized nerve cells to repair

brain damage have begun.

Another possible medical advance that could be developed further through

cloning research is the early diagnosis and even the curing of genetic diseases such as

diabetes and heart disease. A method called gene therapy is being developed by where a

solution is injected into the patient; once inside, the solution alters the area of the DNA

where the disease is and fixes the problem. Diabetes is a disease in which the cells

cannot accept sugars from the blood without the help of insulin from either injection or

oral pills. Diabetics could undergo gene therapy, and insulin could start being produced

naturally again. Other products that are needed by humans could be artificially produced

by animals through cloning and genetic engineering. Genes from humans that produce

necessary proteins, for example, could be included in the animal DNA so that the animal

would produce that protein in its milk or blood. The protein could then be extracted and

used in human treatments for various diseases or disorders.

This could also lead to a prevention and or cure for AIDS and cancer. A few

people have successfully continued to live with AIDS or cancer, and in some cases the

disease has gone away. Part of their genetic structure has strengthened the immune

system to the point that it rids the body of these diseases. Their genes could be used in

gene therapy and help to strengthen others immune systems so they too could rid their

bodies of these diseases.

Genetic defects could also be cured with cloning technology. A genetic defect is

a mutation in which the DNA has been altered and caused an abnormality in the body.

People who wish to have a child, could be tested for possible mutations in the DNA, and

a genetic solution could be created and injected into the still developing egg . Mutations

are natural, but when it causes an abnormality it is a hard thing for a person to live with.

Through cloning technology, genetic defects could be treated to the point where the

person affected could live a normal life.

The call for the ban of human cloning has been premature in the development of

the procedure. The benefits of cloning are innumerable to the medical field and could

revolutionize potentially fatal procedures. Humankind could benefit greatly from this

new technology, and it should not be banned. If God was the original “cloner” when he

created Eve from Adam’s rib, and Jesus was a clone of god. If we are wrong in cloning,

would not God also be?