Manipulating Reproduction - have we gone too far?

Manipulating Reproduction – have we gone too far?

Scientists have been cloning DNA – the building blocks for all life for decades. For the first time in February 1997 a group of scientists cloned an adult mammal – “Dolly” the sheep. The method used to create Dolly is called Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Scientist transferred DNA from the nucleus of a cell taken from a sheep’s udder into an egg with its nucleus removed. The egg was then implanted into the uterus of a female sheep. Dolly was a clone of the sheep whose udder cell was used. Many animals have been cloned worldwide including cattle, goats, mice, monkeys. Yet for every animal successfully cloned there are many attempts and many failures. Cloned animals have died at a young age due to defects in their organs, bones or cells.

No one has managed to clone a human yet but the possibility of doing so became a step closer to reality. The word cloning has a broad meaning. Cloning can be defined as “producing a cell or organism with the same nuclear genome as another cell or organism”2 in other words to create a specific organ or body part. This is where stem cells can be taken and stimulated to grow organs. This type of clone is made using a process called nuclear transfer, which involves removing the nucleus form an egg cell and replacing it with a nucleus of an adult cell (a cumulus cell) the egg is then activated using a chemical process. The resulting embryo is grown to about 100 cells. The stem cells are then harvested from the early embryo. Cloning can also be defined as precise genetic copy of a molecule, cell, plant animal or human being- this is like Dolly the sheep where a cell is taken from an adult organism. The nucleus is removed and placed inside an egg cell which has had the nucleus removed. The egg is then implanted in the womb. Eventually a baby is born with the same genetic make-up as the adult from which the cell was taken. Both processes involve the same work but are different things.

The reason we question the ethics of human cloning is because of the fact that the clones made are actual human beings. Many people feel it would be wrong to create another human being unnaturally. “It took 277 attempts to create Dolly, and she has not even survived over 6 years, due to lung problems, developing arthritis and aging quickly” 3. Even attempts to clone cows failed after they developed abnormalities such as growing too big in size and again developing lung problems. Some people think that we shouldn’t even being discussing cloning human beings when we cannot even ...

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Cloning humans could lead to the creation and passing on of mutated genes, creating a whole new species of people. People think that experimenting with human cloning whilst knowing the high risk or developing mutated genes is not right and unethical in terms of scientific research, and in terms of basic human morals as well.

Cloning humans can also have a social effect. If human cloning did reach stage where they commonplace in society, there would be a lot less genetic variety within society as more and more people will have would have replicas of themselves, instead of creating individuals through pregnancy. most people will believe that human cloning is unethical because of the massive implications, mostly negative, that it would have on society.

On the other hand some people agree on human cloning because it will benefit people:

One huge advantage of cloning is that there would be a solution to organ limitations. “Stem cells are the master cells and have the potential to form any kind of tissue or cell in the body”4 stem cells can be grown to produce organs or tissues to repair or replaced damaged ones. “In the future stem cells could be produced to produce new healthy tissue such as heart or lung tissue to treat patients. One of the biggest problems in medicine today is that many people need transplant organs”1. There is usually a shortage of and even when doctors do find a donor the body sometimes rejects the new organ, but if cloning were made possible you would be able to clone body organs, which would be beneficial to a patient, as it would work better than a transplant organ. If this were to happen then obviously this would be a huge advantage.

People who are for cloning whole organism is that it would be beneficial to the animal world. Scientists have already been able to clone animals as we have seen with Dolly. Scientists are now starting to revolutionize the extinction process. Schemes have started to clone animals, which are close to extinction like the tiger in Asia, and the Rhino in Africa and save them from total extinction. .

“Human cloning could make it possible for many more infertile couples to have children.”5 Couples go through physically and emotionally painful procedures for a small chance of having children. Many couples run out of time and money without successfully having children. Human cloning could make it possible for many more infertile couples to have children than ever before possible.

In conclusion, I don’t think cloning should be band in all cases. Cloning could be used in various ways to benefit the lives of humans. I think cloning should be allowed but not to clone whole organisms like Dolly but only to clone tissues such as heart, liver, as this will benefit millions of people get an exact match of an organ, without getting it rejected. Some people may believe that we are interfering with nature whereas other people it will help people because cloning can also be used to treat spinal cord injuries, cancer and heart disease. Scientist also believe that they may be able to treat heart attack patients by cloning their healthy heart cells and injecting them into the areas of the heart that have been damaged.