Modifying Within The Womb And Its Effects On Human Life

Six years ago, an event in genetic history changed our perspective on "reproduction" and added to our conscience a new element in the study of biology. On February 23, 1997, the world was introduced to Dolly, a 6-month-old lamb that was cloned from a single cell taken from the tissue of an adult donor. Ever since the birth of this sheep, a question that never before existed now lingers in the mind of many: should human cloning be a part of our society?

Most recently, breakthroughs in the modification of human anatomy have been introduced into society. Scientists have discovered ways to modify human genetics and anatomy, as well as making entirely new entities. Stem cells are specialized cells designed to prevent deficiencies or other diseases. Mayoclinic describe stem cells as beneficial to humanity, as they can “...mature into cells in bones, heart muscle, nerves, and other organs and tissue, researchers and doctors may better understand how diseases and conditions develop.” (Mayoclinic Staff, Increase understanding of our diseases occur). Modern-day scientists use stem cells to perfect humanity, causing a healthier and more productive society. Scientists obtain stem cells through embryos and adult tissue, such as bone marrow. Furthermore, scientists have discovered new ways to multiply identical entities through cloning. The National Humane Genome Research institute describes cloning as “ a number of different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. The copied material, which has the same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as a clone”(NHGRI, What is Cloning?) Scientists can modify a clone to benefit humanity. The NHGRI explains that “researchers who cloned Dolly have cloned other sheep that have been genetically modified to produce milk

As mentioned earlier, cloning is the copying of an organism that results in identical offspring (“Cloning”). Scientists have tried cloning many times on frogs and other organisms (“Cloning”), but when the first mammal to be cloned was successful in 1997, scientists jumped into pools of thoughts to clone humans. The first mammal to be cloned was a sheep named Dolly. The process of cloning Dolly was called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. The nucleus of a somatic stem cell is taken out of the eggs of the

hen people think of the word “cloning” they often have in mind frightening images of duplicates of humans in a kind of mad scientist experiment. In fact, many people were outraged when Dolly came as a result of a cloning experiment in Scotland (Brown, 2009). Therapeutic cloning, however, is completely different and does not involve the creation of a perfect copy from another human being. In therapeutic cloning, fertilization of sperm or eggs is not implanted into the uterus to create a child. Therapeutic cloning is a phase of a procedure known as somatic cell transfer (SCNT) In this procedure; scientists take a somatic cell from the nucleus of an egg (the nucleus contains genetic material) and then it is transplanted. In practical applications

We’ve all seen the movies. A person gets in a tube. The scientist, usually equipped with crazy hair, pushes a few button and a huge flash of light occurs. Two people walk out completely identical. And of course we know movies would never lie to us. The first cloning of a mammal, while not quite the mad scientist scene expected, was still an amazing event. It was a sheep, later named Dolly. One day, in the not so distant future, we can all use these techniques to clone our dearly passed pets or even family members. Dolly was cloned in 1996 using reproductive cloning and since then many things thought unthinkable twenty years ago have been achieved.

Cloning and genetically modifying humans is now more attainable than ever due to strides made by science. With a relatively short history, cloning and genetic engineering have been a new concept for many people in society with the first proof of cloning being dolly the sheep, the first successful clone born by the somatic cell nuclear-transfer procedure [1]. Cloning over the years has evolved and now could be used to someday help people requiring organ transplants, recover from traumatic injuries and aid infertile couples with its reproductive possibilities [4].

On February 24, 1997 history was made. The first cloned adult mammal was born through somatic cell nuclear transfer (McCuen, 11). Somatic cell nuclear transfer is when a nucleus of a mammary gland is removed and fused with an egg by using electrical pulses. The pulses prompt the egg to divide to form an embryo. The embryo is then transferred to a uterus where it is implanted to grow (McCuen, 10). Before the creation of Dolly, many scientists were unsuccessful in their attempts to produce a genetically identical copy of a cell. In the rare occasion that they were successful in their attempts, they would soon be discouraged due to the inability of the clone to sustain life. It took hundreds of attempts before Dolly’s team of scientist could obtain a successfully cloned sheep. Of the 277 successful transfers, only 29 became embryos. And of these 29 embryos, Dolly was the sole survivor (Sweat, 1). What sets Dolly apart from previous clones is the fact that she was cloned differently. Dolly was cloned not from sex cells but from mature mammal cells with no reproductive function (Sweat, 1). Even though Dolly was a

Ever since the birth of the first cloned sheep, named Dolly, the dream of human cloning has existed (Van Dijck, 1999). Cloning a mammal is described as the manipulation of an animal or human cell in order to create an identical copy of that animal’s or human’s nucleic DNA (Andrews, 1997). Though the dream of a human clone also comes with a lot of controversy regarding ethics and morals. Embryotic stem cell research, which could lead to a renewable source of human tissue, cells and eventually entire organs (Bowring, 2004), is highly controversial due to the necessity of placing a cloned embryo into a woman’s body

The science in biology allows us to discuss living things, organisms, and the creation of life. The United States banned all kinds of cloning in 2005, but there is still a curiosity in if it can lead to improvement in human existence. Cloning is about composing an identical organism out of the given DNA and constructing it to appear as natural as it originally did. Experiments and approval for human cloning may be in many years to come and out of reach today. As far as animal cloning, we know to a point it’s safe. If we continued the exploration in genetic replication on species, breeding animals can enable us to provide food for a growing global population, and save endangered species. An article like Dolly the Sheep’s Fellow Clones, Enjoying Their Golden Years, the writer brings attention to cloning as being a possible answer to the problems we harbor

Cloning has opened the doors and provided optional ways to resolve various world problems. Right now, cloning is being used for many purposes in improving the lives of the people, especially therapeutic and reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning is leading to find new treatments or cures for common diseases that are affecting people around the world, while the goal of reproductive cloning allows people to produce things that died to help seek redress for their losses, and the idea of cloning more things can be used to serve difficult tasks in the world. Not only that, cloned animals are used for their organs to replace damaged parts of a human body. The science of cloning can lead to many unknown consequences; however, we should not consider

In understanding why some chose to reject or accept the practice of cloning, basic knowledge how cloning is achieved becomes helpful. Some reject cloning because they believe humans are "playing God", others claim that scientists do not "create life" by cloning any more than they would in the practice of in vitro fertilization. According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, cloning is "to reproduce or propagate asexually". This is obviously not the traditional form of human reproduction. There are three basic methods of cloning: separating the embryo and making twins with the same genetic make-up, taking a cell from a fertilized ovum when the cell begins to split and replace it in another female's ovum, or nuclear transplantation (Travis). The famous cloning of an adult ewe, who's offspring was named Dolly, was accomplished through the second method by Dr. Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland (World Book). Dolly was "born" by taking genetic material from cells in the mammary glands of a 6 year-old ewe and putting the acquired cells into an unfertilized ovum. Out of 277 tries, researchers eventually produced only 29 embryos that survived longer than 6 days, of these 29, all died before

From Star Wars to the Jurassic Park movies cloning has always been a science fiction story that was light years ahead of us. But with recent evidence and research to clone living organisms, the far away fantasies of cloning we have been dreaming about for many years is rapidly becoming a reality, even faster than we think. Twenty years ago, in 1997, Dolly the Sheep was the first successful clone to be produced from an adult mammal. In the article “The Coming of Clones” American Scientists announced in 2013 that they had for the first time successfully obtained stem cells from cloned human embryos (the building blocks of cloning life). Due to this announcement and the cloning of Dolly, cloning has become a debatable topic that has both negative

A great example of how somatic cell nuclear transfer can be used moving forward in research is Dolly, a female sheep and “the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell…” was born (Learn.Genetics). Because the birth of Dolly established the fact that scientists can successfully perform a cloning and create a genetic replica of another mammal, the topic of concern is whether or not cloning can be done with human cells and if so, how long it will take to successfully engineer a human clone. According to an interview conducted by PBS, a handful of doctors, all of whom are at the top of their field, have no doubt that human cloning will happen in the future. However, what is most interesting is the amount of time they predict it will

Science today is developing at warp speed. We have the capability to do many things, which include the cloning of actual humans! First you may ask what a clone is? A clone is a group of cells or organisms, which are genetically identical, and have all been produced from the same original cell. There are three main types of cloning, two of which aim to produce live cloned offspring and one, which simply aims to produce stem cells and then human organs. These three are: reproductive cloning, embryo cloning and therapeutic cloning. The goal of therapeutic cloning is to produce a healthy copy of a sick person's tissue or organ for transplant, and the goal of both reproductive cloning and embryo cloning is to

Human reproductive cloning is the creation of an individual who has identical nuclear genetic material (DNA) to an existing human being, and who is allowed to develop to term and beyond (Bio Centre, n.d.). This science uses somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Dolly, the sheep, was the first mammal cloned using this technology, and its possible utility for human cloning has been argued ever