The Controversial Debate Of Human Cloning

Genetic cloning is one of the most controversial topics of all time. People, specifically scientists, are constantly searching for ways to improve the quality of human life. As a result, they began genetically engineering animals and are currently in search of a method to genetically engineer humans as well; which is called human cloning. There are many reasons why people should not go forward with this step since genetic cloning, consequently human cloning, does not respect nature nor does it ensure diversity and survival in natural ecosystems. In addition, genetic cloning is a cruel, harsh, and an unsafe experiment.

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

the cloning of mice. This is one of the first successful cases of cloning on record. However, in

This sci-fi plot line may be familiar, but it has nothing to do with the actual, controversial cloning process, one that may be used by today’s scientists to create cloned human embryos in the not-so-distant future.

There have been many arguments in the world about human cloning and its ethical issues. In an issue there will always be pros and cons, but the question is, is this experiment right for humanity? This paper will give in detail about what is cloning, human cloning and how it is done. It will provide my point of view in this topic and two other different arguments from both sides of the issue and finally determine which ones are great arguments.

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer is the most commonly used method for cloning. The process of this method consists of having the nucleus removed from the unfertilized egg and then replacing it with the new material from the somatic cell's nucleus. Once all of that is done, then the cell must be stimulated in order to divide (Dinç 239). With the success rate of a tenth percent to three percent, it is obvious that this method is unreliable ("What are the Risk" par. 3). Clearly with the amount of failures and percent of success rate, scientists are not familiar enough with the concept and difficulty of clinging, so it should just be left alone. Cloning is a risky and dangerous act that should no longer be attempted.

One of the very first successful cloning experiments ever to proceed in a good ending was a sheep named Dolly. For Dolly to be created they had to take a cell from a six year old sheep, or in other words perform a biopsy. After, the cell was taken from the sheep they did a somatic nuclear transfer, this is when the cell is placed in a enucleated

There are a few ways in which cloning can be achieved, one of which is somatic cell nuclear transfer, SCNT. SCNT has become the most practical way of reproductive cloning. Although the success of somatic cell nuclear transfer is very low, 0.1% - 0.5%, the few successes in cloning have been with the use of SCNT. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is a technique that transfers the nucleus of a cell into the cytoplasm of another cell which has no nucleus. Once inside the egg, the nucleus is reprogrammed by egg cytoplasmic factors to become zygote nucleus, a fertilized egg. Since the nucleus holds all the DNA, or the directions for life, the cell will proceed to grow into the organism of which the nucleus came from. Scientists needs more than just a method of cloning to bring back an extinct species. They need an intact DNA strand, and the longer a species has been

In the early 1900’s scientists started investigating Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Through questioning and experimenting scientists were able to conclude every cell contained a specific set of instructions, which is known today as DNA. This discovery has led to a multitude of additional discoveries, including a better understanding of reproduction and genetic information. As advancements continued in learning about DNA, a new biotechnology was discovered called somatic cell nuclear transfer or SCNT. This is the process of taking out the information within the embryonic cell and replacing it with information from an adult body cell from a different being. By mixing the embryonic cell and the genetic information of another, a clone,

The first idea of cloning began in 1938, when scientist Hans Spemann had the idea to replace the nucleus of an egg with the nucleus of another cell. Mr. Spemann did this in an attempt to grow a new embryo; however, the experiment was unsuccessful (Copernicus Science Centre). A successful attempt in the field of cloning did not occur until the 1970’s when Scientist John B. Gurdon successfully cloned a frog. However, each clone did not survive passed the stage of a tadpole. Scientist Gurdon was questioned by the public as to whether or not his practices were morally and ethically correct, especially since he was unable to successfully clone a mammal. (Copernicus Science Centre). The cloning of a mammal was not successful until 1997 when the

What would you do if a person who looked exactly like you and happens to be genetically identical stood in front of you? Would you befriend them or shun them? As defined by the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah Health Science department, a clone is an organism with an identical genetic copy grown from body tissue or a somatic cell. The cloning of a human would be done through the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer. This is done when the nucleus is removed from a somatic cell and put into an egg uninhabited by a nucleus and artificially stimulated into becoming an embryo. When this embryo is transferred into a carrier or a surrogate to

When it comes to cloning, most have heard of the successful replication of Dolly the sheep in 1996 (first cloned mammal). However, the question arises of how the process actually works. Once one can grasp the concept, you can then begin to look into further accomplishments. There have been other approaches before the experiments on Dolly and new studies since. Provided such information we learn of the benefits these discoveries could achieve, but the negative aspects could far outweigh those of the positives.

If a random individual were asked twenty years ago if he/she believed that science could clone an animal, most would have given a weird look and responded, “Are you kidding me?” However, that once crazy idea has now become a reality, and with this reality, has come debate after debate about the ethics and morality of cloning. Yet technology has not stopped with just the cloning of animals, but now many scientists are contemplating and are trying to find successful ways to clone human individuals. This idea of human cloning has fueled debate not just in the United States, but also with countries all over the world. I believe that it is not morally and ethically right

The key to this new procedure was to time the cell cycle of the mammary cell with that of the egg. In order to do this nutrients were withheld from the mammary cell, which stopped it from dividing. The nucleus of the mammary cell was transferred into the recipient egg. An electrical current was given to the egg, which provided the energy that was needed for fertilization to occur. The egg began to divide and when it became an embryo it was placed into another sheep. The lamb that was born, Dolly was a clone of the donor of the original mammary cell (Kolata 27). This type of cloning is very exciting. This technique may be used to mass-produce animals that mimic human diseases for research purposes or to create animals with genetically modified organs that could be safely transplanted into humans. It could also be used to mass-produce animals for drug production or to improve livestock (Clone 1).

The most important improvement in the method of cloning was Wilmut and Campbell's control of the cell cycles of the donor cell nucleus (Chye 2001). They were able to cause the cells to enter G0, a stable stage from which to transfer the somatic cell nuclei, by removing the serum from the cells in the culture (Chye 2001). Since they were able to determine which stage the nuclei were from, the nuclei used to create the fertilized oocytes were in the proper phase of the cell cycle as to promote growth and development (Chye 2001). The embryo was then activated with the use of an electrical pulse, and left for several days to mature (Chye 2001). In the final step, the cultured embryo was implanted into the