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Cloning: Right or Wrong

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Biology 103
2000 First Web Report
On Serendip

Cloning: Right or Wrong

Julie Kwon

With the advancement and expansion of technology science has been able to achieve new wonders. These improvements and discoveries in science have allowed the human race to explore and learn more about the world. One such phenomenon is cloning. Cloning has opened the doors to explore human beings in a way that was once never possible. With cloning the human body, as well as other organisms, will be studied. Cloning and genetic engineering will both come into play to improve scientific knowledge, but is cloning beneficial?

Cloning attempts has occurred as early as 1952, and the first successful transfer of embryonic cells occurred in 1970 (1), (5). Ian Wilmut, the scientist famous for the "Dolly" cloning experiment has paved the way for a completely different thought. There were other organisms that were cloned but what made "Dolly" unique was that instead of cells being taken from an embryo "Dolly" was created by using DNA from an adult ewe(3). The process of cloning was discovered to be simpler than what was thought. The first step is to take the cells from the udder of a Finn Dorset ewe and place them in a culture with low concentrations of nutrients causing it to starve and ultimately stop cell division and active genes (3). While this is occurring an unfertilized egg cell is taken from a Blackface ewe with its DNA filled nucleus taken out leaving a nucleus free egg cell that will later produce an embryo (3). Next with the aid of an electric pulse the cells from the udder of a Finn Dorset ewe and the unfertilized egg cell with no nucleus is fused together to begin cell division which will later turn into an embryo which will be placed in the uterus of another Blackface ewe(3). Eventually the Blackface ewe will give birth to a new genetically identical Finn Dorset ewe(3). With the creation of "Dolly" the doors of human cloning has opened the controversy and complications of cloning.

The cloning process is not yet perfected nor one hundred percent accurate, in fact, it took Ian Wilmut more than 277 attempts before the successful creation of a "healthy viable lamb" (1). Furthermore, Ian Wilmut explains that mistakes where made in his procedure and there is uncertainty whether a fetus or adult cell was used in his steps of creating "Dolly" (1). Cloning of humans will be a much more difficult task and a huge risk where a number of things can go wrong causing malformation and diseases in the human body (1). It involved a slightly different process where a somatic cell must be taken from the female. These somatic cells will be harder to work with because they are specialized cells where genes are "turned off" and unable to turn back "on" (1). In addition, the "human clone" will be a "time-delayed identical twin" (1). Because of these complications and imperfections the government has taken action with the proposal of the Cloning Prohibition Act of 1997 by President Bill Clinton (1), (4). With this bill there would be no "implantation of cloned cells into the human (1). President Clinton believes that "any discovery that teaches upon human creation is not simply a matter of scientific inquiry but also a matter of morality and spirituality" (1). In addition to the actions of the President the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) agrees that no human cloning shall take place because at the present time it is not justified to produce a human child by the cloning procedure used to create "Dolly" (1), (4). The NBAC stresses that there is potentially a greater risk with human error as well as having numerous failed attempts before creating a perfect clone (1), (4). They are concerned about the psychological damage and the disappearance of individuality if human cloning became a common practice (1). Both the President and the NBAC find it morally wrong and currently inappropriate to put human cloning into practice.

There are numerous ways where cloning will further aid in scientific development and help the advancement of scientific knowledge of humans. Human cloning can allow rebirth of deceased humans, cure diseases especially those related to genetics, and discover new data and ideas (2). It can prevent endangered species from disappearing as well as allow healthier human beings(2), (5). It will allow doctors to research and determine the cause of spontaneous abortions as well as research rapid cell growth of cancer cells (1). (2). New organs that genetically match the recipient may be produced as well as allow regeneration of nerve tissues and other damaged tissues, and further study in genetics, human body development, and medicine (1). (2). (5). Agricultural and livestock can also be improved where scientist can alter clone organisms with preferable better traits or ideal characteristics (2). All this will allow the people of science to have an in depth research of the human body.

What is the downfall of human cloning? One would be the world lack of genetic diversity (2). The world will become an ideal living environment with "perfect people" that are all genetically alike (2). It may also instigate fraud and bad practice as the Black Market gets involved in selling stolen or defected clones (1). Because cloning is generally a new process and still in it's early stages there would be many uncertainty and risks (1). The procedure may actually cause more deaths in human beings where physical harm can be done to an embryo as well as a child. Because a perfect human being can be created, humans that do not have the desired character traits will not be socially accepted(1), (4).

"Opponents and supporters of human cloning agree that at the current time the technology is not safe enough to use on humans" (1). With the facts given it is evident that human cloning should not be practiced in the near future. Looking at both the advantages and disadvantages you observe that the advantages will further aid development and advancement of science and the disadvantages show that it will greatly affect moral and social issues. Though human cloning will improve the science society and the human race there is a far greater risk involved in cloning humans. Furthermore, with the active involvement of government prohibiting human cloning and the controversy surrounding this issue it is an unjustified procedure to practice. Therefore, unless technology has improved to perfect the cloning procedure as well as an understanding of the moral issues behind human cloning is observed there should be no human clone present in our society.

WWW Sources

1)Human Cloning

2)cloning

3)Cloning 1 2 3

4)National Bioethics Advisory Commission

5)Cloning Special Report



Comments made prior to 2007
your document 'right or wrong' on human cloning really helped, It was straight to the point and easy to understand ... Kiara, 24 February 2006

Comments

KISS's picture

human cloning

i would suggest that human cloning be legal and authorized, but be heavily monitored and restricted.

emmi's picture

...

yes

yes's picture

yes

yes

Serendip Visitor's picture

wow

thanks for the info!

bigmoneyrustla's picture

comments

I just got done reading the comments most of these comments are mean i thoght this was a very well written paragraphs. I am a highschool teacher and if i was to grade this i would give this an a. I can tell that there was alot of effort in this article and that is something that i can very much appreciate. Good job.

Anonymous's picture

Well...

If we keep this up, the information will get out to people that will use it to their advantage. We know it'll happen, it always does. Eventually, it could be used to take somebody else's DNA and clone them without permission. Then, and I'm sorry if I'm over-thinking this, but it is very well possible, that they could use the clone to steal your identity and credit cards and stuff. That's just how society works these days.

Anonymous's picture

All that aside...

All that aside...If scientists continue this experimenting, they will start cloning human beings, and if that information for doing this gets out to the wrong people, crimes such as kidnapping to clone people would scare us all to leave our houses in the morning. Think about it. If anyone got a hold of our DNA, they could use it to clone us and steal our identity. Maybe I'm just thinking way too far out of the box, but it is possible, right?

Serendip Visitor's picture

well maybe but I don't think

well maybe but I don't think that it would allow cloning the brain if the clone wasn't like a newborn baby the cone would be a vegetable

Serendip Visitor's picture

i dont know anything

i dont know anything about anything i am just going to get mad at you for writing a crappy comment which i didnt read. youre welcome.

Derpster's picture

you guys are fighting over a

you guys are fighting over a situation where someone got cloned and now you guys are having a religious war?
You could almost call this website cyber-debate.edu

Cloner's picture

Cloning

Cloning is wrong. If we continue cloning, we will eventually destroy the world. For one, cloning costs a LOT of money. It will drain the country of it's money. Secoundly, the clones, if something goes wrong, they could rebel and then they could kill us. They could also come out deformed and they could look like something out of a frankinstein movie. They could be too short or too tall. They could be too fat or too skinny. If they are identical twins, we would loose our uniqueness. There would be tons of clones walking around. They would be duplicates of people that already exist. Nothing can change this. They will be the identical twins of YOU! Do you want thousands of identical you's walking around the world? Do you want your BFF inviting your twin to a sleepover? Do you want to be lost in a sea of you's? Do you want your friend to get mad at you if you invite their clon to your house for a skateboard party? Think about that when you choose. You can contact me at . Remember, think bbefore you choose!

Clone X420's picture

This is gr8

Sorry that i couldnt respond back in 2013 when this comment was initially written. I am your clone from the future and I am here to study every aspect of your life so that i may one day replace you. Please send me every scrap of personal info you have. See you at the next skateboard party! Till then, stay alive.

Sincerely,
You

Anonymous's picture

I completely agree. This

I completely agree. This whole thing is going to grow out of proportion like everything else.

Anonymous Guest's picture

Wrong

i think cloning is wrong because ... people were made only once and its wrong to clone others or any kind of organism and to me it makes them look like a god or something!! also thanks for this info i need it for an essay!

GrandLufaine's picture

You people are

You people are hilarious.
Thanks for the laugh.

john doe's picture

you are wrong dude

erm not really true you say we are not just organs and stuff you say we have souls but a soul is not a substance a soul is not a thing its simply a process of every organ working together are soul it technically just aour persionality and you say an embryo is a human being with a soul when actually what you realise is that it is just a clkuster of cells and chromasomes

bla bla's picture

its right !!

its right !!

Dr Havashamstienberg's picture

Cloning

Cloning is murder, bringing another human being in to the world so it can be used as an experiment, a thing so when you need a new arm or kidney, you can take it off of another human, alive souly for this purpose.

Serendip Visitor's picture

clone

I do not think cloning is wrong but we must remember that clones are people to.
Taking body parts from clones is steeling and is very rood.

anonymous's picture

Thanks

Thank you for the help with my report with cloning humans and animals. i think that GM is a lot safer than cloning though. i think that cloning using Somatic cell nuclear transfer is not as good as natural cloning. somatic cell nuclear transfer is more about using a somatic cell and and transplanting a nucleas which is not how we were meant to be.

Huhialala's picture

Cloning is WRONG

Cloning shouldn't be done. I don't agree with it. It even says in the Bible that people can't create other people so ask yourself this question: Is a clone a human? Would they go to heaven? So, I don't think cloning should be done

Serendip Visitor's picture

Bible is a myth

You're basing your idea on the bible? who goes to a science article trying to spread the word of "God"
Cloning is perfectly fair, plus people pay a lot to have cells implanted into an embryo for a genetic clone so i believe that they can do whatever the hell they want with it.

Serendip Visitor's picture

You're wrong

Humans do make humans...

Serendip Visitor's picture

scientist dont belive in god

scientist dont belive in god

Serendip Visitor's picture

scientist don't belive in god

scientist don't belive in god so the bible thing is not in the quistion :)

Serendip Visitor's picture

no

there are lots of scientists i know believe in God, for example, the author of the new Biology book for high school kids is a christian himself :)

Serendip Visitor's picture

no

I think the same thing because they might try it on a human and do something wrong and kill them and if they know ithey are not going to heavien tihey shouldn't do it because they is making it worser on their hand.

someone.'s picture

God supports cloning

God supports cloning because he himself was the fist person in the world to clone , he made women out of man. He cloned her with the same DNA that Adam had , so dont go saying that GOD doesn't support cloning. Of course cloning has its bad side because the human has a shorter life span and ages quickly. And for you guys who dont believe in God , when it comes time for your judgement in front of Him your going to be punished for wanting to be the boss of yourself and not trust in Him.

Serendip Visitor's picture

cloning

CLONING MEANS EXACT AND SAME COPY. God i don't think believes in cloning. Get your facts right. CLONING IS AN EXACT COPY.

Fellow Commenter's picture

Not True

Hello fellow commenter,

How you said "CLONING MEANS EXACT AND SAME COPY" isn't entirely true, because there will always be mutations within the clone and the environment of the person who is being cloned would have to be exactly the same as the environment the person was born in, nothing at all could be even have the slightest difference or else the clone would be somewhat different. Also, having a completely sterile environment in a lab and another one where the clone is being made, would be near to impossible to recreate. Making a clone that is exactly the same as the person being cloned would be very unlikely.

Sincerely,
Fellow Commenter

Tsusto's picture

loooooooooooooool

ey ya,thats true brue.cloning isnt wrong mahn.if thats then a sin,why did god do it????????????????eitah holaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Huhialala's picture

Not true

God did not CLONE Adam. You can't clone a man to make a woman. He CREATED Eve. He only used Adam to give her a rib.

adam's picture

Cloning is real!!!!!!!!!!!

Cloning is real!!!!!!!!!!!

Visitor's picture

God..He this HE that. He's

God..He this HE that. He's going to judge the non-believers and the people who choose to control their own life instead of foolishly complying to a book. religion is just there as guidelines to living a good life. Also to control the ignorant and plant ideas of fear into certain peoples minds. god is no he or she, its what religion calls to when they don't know the answer. wow science! who knew that the whole world didn't come from a single man and woman due to the theory of evolution, continental splits DINOSAUR BONES actual proof but I suppose you might believe the devil planted them to make us think god lied?. that's just stupid. god didn't write the bible. Man had written the bible. your Belief is based upon another mans theory or should I say ignorance?

smiley's picture

we should not

we should not

Huhialala's picture

I agree completely!

I think that cloning is totally wrong!

Mystery man's picture

you're wrong

You should think twice about what you think! Cloning can help people that are starving in Africa and give them meat to live forever and stop world hunger and instead of worying about hunger they can worry about their lack in technology.

alex:))'s picture

thanks soo much for helping

thanks soo much for helping me with my essay!! :)

just a thought's picture

just a thought plz let me no if im wrong

human cloning can lead to many problems and benefits. cloning human parts like organs would help the person live but in the long run if everyone started doing it our death tole would decrease and our population would increase which would cause much more problems to our environment(isnt the world supposed to be balanced isnt death part of keeping that balance?).on the other hand cloning tigers and lions would save them which i think would be great it would give us a chance to correct our mistake.also couldnt cloning be used as a weapen making soldiers to fight our battles from what we know of the world we try to use any power over another we can(im not thinking about just tomorrow im thinking many years in the future but the steps we take now are what we become in the future right). would the clones have the freedoms and the respect that a real human gets? i think not. cloning would make our lives alot easier thats all( think about this line).how about f**k cloning and put a limit on how many babys we can make so we dont f**k the world and maybe then our specie will survive longer.cloning should only be done on animals to help our environment that we are destroying, to give our grand grand children a chance to see the world as we saw it. sorry i aint to smart of a dude but even i can see this being wrong. the cloned solider part plz don't be like the government wouldnt allow that why give them the chance.(funny)i think we should get chips implanted in us aswell soo if im ever lost they'll be able to find me yaay right.

hiya's picture

- A clone would not really be

- A clone would not really be a duplicate because environmental factors would mold him or her into a unique individual.

Serendip Visitor's picture

Cloning

Cloning has so many benefits, more than negative ones, and also stronger ones. The only reasons that a properly cloned human would be discriminated against are because a large group of people prefer to only accept and take in what's normal to them. What's normal is only a point of view. In Nazi Germany, anti-semetism was normal, because most people were anti-semetic, but that doesn't make it right. The belief that God created everything, and that he created man in his image, surely that means that he made us to be like him? Life is full of hints, and it just takes a lttle common sense to see them. Before the Noah's Ark, Adam's direct descendents didn't see the hints that they were to be good to everyone and that it brings everyone happiness. If they had accepted eachother in the first place, they wouldn't have all died. Back to the 'man in God's image' point, it basically means that humanity will inevitably endeavour to create things, and make them work well, and to seek betterment for everyone. For this last point to happen, people need ambition. However, the 'normal' people constantly attack ideas that could change things. Christianity is one of the oldest religions, yet science is even older. All the miracles I can think of that have been performed can be re-enacted by science. I don't mean anything nasty toward religion now, I am simply finding loopholes which any open minded person would consider looking through and then see the real light, not this edited version of what Jesus might have spoken that most the anti-cloning people happen to believe. The truth is, cloning doesn't contradict religion, and it is beneficial toward everyone so long as it is kept within boundaries, such as producing super armies, and so long as it's used for good. Remember, it was christianity that kept us in the dark ages. If they didn't happen, because everything science like was considered witchcraft, the world would technologicaly 800 years ahead of where we are now. Space. Most likely intergalactic travel. Cloning without any hitches, surgery to go with it that could repair any damage done, much longer lives due to genetic engineering, and we would have enough space to sustain ourselves and be brave and explorers again. Back to this mundane level of cloning where people are saying ' NOOOO lets NOT clone because we'll be racist to what comes out' and 'od doesn't want people to be the same.' Natural selection clearly points out that the creatures with the best genes will survive in the end, and that life tries to turn out an animal with the best genes. Human evolution is destined to create a race where we are all interbreeding, and the best of what is made survives, so humanity is destined to all end up clones of eachother. And there are no problems anywhere to do with therapeutic cloning (cloning tissues, organs) that can't be solved by simply comparing the very large side of benefits, long and short term, with the superficial side that it's 'just wrong.' Science is right, and so long as people that have been subdued by the illusion of normality don't become leaders in it, it won't collapse. Besides, most the bad hype about cloning comes froms films where film-makers have created holes in it, twisting the ideals to create problems that would only exist in a twisted world, to entice people into watching it. Stem cells aren't people, foetuses don't have enough synapses to even come close to being conscious or having a personality, (besides the genes which will negate their natural dispositions) and abortion is wrong only unless all morally positive options have been exhausted, and that the abortion will benefit everyone in the long term. A baby born to a 14 year old would certainly not receive the correct up bringing to turn out as one of the best of humanity. I would like to see any argument I couldn't win that isn't against some blind fanatic who believes only the religion that they've been fed from a child.

Derpster's picture

this is a comment not an

this is a comment not an essay! >:(

Serendip Visitor's picture

Whoa, Whoa, okay. God is not

Whoa, Whoa, okay. God is not an opinion, He's a fact. HE MADE EVERYTHING! A bunch of complicated, confusing, half-true theories vs. the Savior and Creator of the Universe. We see his wonders every day, every minute. You think it's coincidence that you're alive? Coincidence that everything just 'happens' to work the way it does? Why do we try to explain everything when the explanation is all around us, GOD!!!

Serendip Visitor's picture

God is NOT an option comment

I am totally with you on that fact that God is not an option and that things did not just happen by chance. How I like to think of it is like the Washington Memorial. Think, did it just apear there from nothing? No, of course not! If you said that in today's society people would think you had gone mad. That building was MADE. It was made with a purpose, and with creative thinking and a plan already set out before anyone started working on it. Thus is the same case with the Earth, and in the begining of time God had created all the Earth and it's contents, including every animal. They were put on Earth for a reason, they didn't have some random mutation that caused them evolve into what they are. That is just one of many excuses to how the Earth was made by people who refuse to believe that God is real and what all He did for us. God made us all individuals, and scientists have no right to play God as a human, of whom God had created. keep in mind that, also, God is letting them do this. Nothing is out of His control, and if He wanted to stop them He would. So, I am against this because I feel it is wrong. And so the war continues, between right and wrong, the truth and the lies, and between what people want to believe and what is facts. Guess how many people will argue? A lot! But the truth is the truth, and nothing else. :)

Hai's picture

Why doesn't god speak to me

Why doesn't god speak to me then? Why doesn't he tell me hes real?!?

Serendip Visitor's picture

ummm

thats not how that works

Serendip Visitor's picture

Cause he wants you to believe

Cause he wants you to believe in him with faith not just believe cause you know hes there he wants you to truly believe in him instead of just like seeing his greatness. How do you think my friend whos had glasses for 30 years tested for 20/20 vision after praying

Serendip Visitor's picture

We Can Preach

We Should Be Able To Preach If We want too!! If WE Believe In A Certain Religion We Should Be Able TO!! And BTW God IS SPELLED WITH A CAPTIAL G AS IN "G" God!!!

The Clown.'s picture

Do not preach.

I enjoyed reading these articles, i beleive that everyone has a opinion, but i do not beleive that people should preach on websites, it is not up to you to decide who should beleive in what, life can be about religion, i myself am an atheist and not do not beleive in the laws of god, but i do not judge others who do, your comment was a view/opinion but i beleive that you took it too far, please do not preach. thank you, yours sincerely; The Clown.

Derpster's picture

God is spelt with a capital

God is spelt with a capital 'G' thank you very much!