Animal cloning

INTRODUCTION

A clone is a genetic copy of another living organism –animal, plant or human. Animal cloning is a widely discussed issue in our society today. The question now is whether the Australian government should ban animal cloning. Many opinions are generated from this subject, such as the justifiability of cloning, and how far it should go. Religious views are prevalent, so too are numerous ethical concerns. The issue of whether or not the government should ban cloning has gained progressive attention, as the science of animal cloning is further perfected.

BIOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

Animal cloning is the process of creating a biological replicate of another organism with the exact genetic makeup of the original individual. Two processes can be used to obtain clones. The first process is called “embryo splitting.” In the laboratory, an embryo is created by joining a sperm cell from a male animal donour, with an egg cell from a female animal donour. The embryo begins to divide into two cells, and these cells are separated and implanted in different foster mothers. This process has been successful in the cloning of mammals such as cattle, pigs, rabbits, mice, sheep and goat.

The second process is called nuclear transfer or cell nuclear replacement. This process was used to produce Dolly the sheep, the first animal cloned from a differentiated cell taken from an adult animal. The donour nucleus of the cell is introduced into an unfertilised egg cell, from which the nucleus has been extracted. An electrical pulse is used to fuse the donour nucleus and the egg cell together and to initiate the development of the “reconstructed embryo.” If the embryo development is successful, then it is implanted in a foster mother. The donour nucleus can be obtained from embryonic cells that are differentiated into the skin, heart, brain and various other organs.

Success rates are very low, with an average of only 1-2% of cloned embryos that lead to a successful clone. Losses occur at all stages of the cloning process. Some cloned embryos do not develop in general, some fail to implant and a high proportion of fetuses die late in pregnancy or soon after birth. Cloned mice have the tendency to be obese and tend to learn more slowly. Many cloned animals have deformities such as an abnormally large size, which endangers the lives of the surrogate mothers carrying them. The causes of the low success rate of cloning are ...

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SOCIAL RELEVANCE

There will be many different impacts on society if the government’s decides to ban, or not to ban animal cloning. A better knowledge of these impacts can be obtained by discussing the good and bad of animal cloning. One application of the cloning technique is by cloning genetically modified animals, so that their cells and organs can be transplanted into humans. Thousands of patients die as a result of the unavailability of human organs for transplantations and this cloning technique could potentially be a solution within the medical world.

Cloning technology may be used to create genetically modified animals that imitate the behaviour or responses of the human body, that is, animals that are susceptible to human diseases. Scientists view this as a very beneficial way of testing the effectiveness of drugs on such an animal model which could lead to a discovery of drugs, vaccinations or inoculations for many diseases. However, in this situation, there is an ethical intolerance amongst society to clone animals purely for the medical benefit of humans. Others claim that scientific and technological advances should not be hindered, as it is unfair to limit the use of animals if such experimentations can lead to medical treatments. Even though the cloning of genetically modified animals could initiate countless breakthroughs in the medical world, there is also the risk of transferring animal diseases into humans, and this is a concern that many people have.

Cloned animals could be used in livestock production. It allows breeders to take animals with desirable traits and successfully have these traits reproduced in the offspring. It could be used to create a dairy cow that produces milk with a high protein content or low saturated fat content, which has a potential to benefit human health, perhaps even to create a population of sheep that has high quality wool. Researchers have also suggested that cloning could be used to preserve a near-extinction species or even to enhance livestock resistance to illness such as foot and mouth disease. In this way, livestock breeders are in favour of animal cloning.

There might also be numerous benefits to farmers and the meat industry. Animals can be genetically engineered and then cloned to produce a population of bigger, meatier animals. This thereby increases food regulation, customer satisfaction, business success and boosts the economy. However, if cloned animals become supermarket commodities, there will be a concern amongst society to do with the safety risks of consuming such animals.

Other groups, including those who strongly believe in animal rights, think animals deserve to be treated with the same moral principles that are granted to humans. Cloning is viewed by many people, including animal lovers and activists, as a way of enslaving animals and subjecting them to experimentation for the benefit of humans, such as those mentioned previously. To them, animals should also not be subjected to experimentations that lead to confinement, abnormal offspring, even death. Abnormality and death is the result of the low 1-2% success rate of nuclear transfer. In Dolly’s case, it took 276 attempts before there was success, and at least five embryos were discarded, which is ethically wrong to many people, as it is the destruction of life. The opposition however then challenges this theory by saying: “In that case, what about consuming animals for food? Isn’t that the destruction of life too?”

The most common ethical arguments are derived from religious groups. From a religious point of view, opposition to cloning comes from a belief that humans should not take over “the divine power to create life.” For Christians, animal cloning goes against God’s natural system which works by diversification. Cloning differs from God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.” Other people believe that this technology is going too far and interferes with the course of nature. When dealing with cloning, a high level of genetic variation must be maintained. People are concerned that if the genetic “pool” is narrowed to a limited number of lines, there may be problems from in breeding. However, enthusiasts enforce that although this might be a disadvantage to a particular country, the vast majority of people who keep livestock (millions in the third world) cannot afford cloning –thus, the genetic variation will be maintained. Nevertheless, there still might be limits to how useful cloning can be.

In September 2001, an Australian Parliamentary committee recommended a ban on creating human embryos for research purposes only and a ban on human reproductive cloning. However, the creation of cloned embryos through the process of nuclear transfer was excluded from the ban recommendation. Hence, there is a strong potential for animal cloning in the near future. The National Stem Cell Centre is an Australian alliance of biologists, medical practitioners and companies working to realize the potential of stem cell research and cloning technology. Their research is very beneficial in determining the effectiveness of animal cloning technology- its management, uses, control, advantages and disadvantages.

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