One reason why Dolly’s success was considered as such a breakthrough is mainly because it proved that the genetic material from a specialised cell such as a liver, udder, bone or heart can be changed to enable scientists to form a completely different organism. This once again however could be considered morally wrong and as “playing God”. Before the example that was set my Dolly scientists believed that once a cell had become specialised, the change was permanent so any unneeded genes would lay dormant and inactive. Some scientists believe that errors which occur during the reprogramming of the genes are what cause the high mortality rates and deformities which occur in some clone specimens.
Below you will find a fact file containing information about Dolly the sheep according to
Celebrity Sheep Died at Age 6
Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from adult DNA, was put down by lethal injection Feb. 14, 2003. Prior to her death, Dolly had been suffering from lung cancer and crippling arthritis. Although most Finn Dorset sheep live to be 11 to 12 years of age, postmortem examination of Dolly seemed to indicate that, other than her cancer and arthritis, she appeared to be quite normal. The unnamed sheep from which Dolly was cloned had died several years prior to her creation. Dolly was a mother to six lambs, bred the old-fashioned way.
Therapeutic cloning
This form of cloning is also known as “embryo cloning” which is where copies of human embryos are produced to be used in scientific research. These cells are extremely important to biomedical researchers in helping find cures for a wide range of diseases. Here is a piece of text taken from the government information website to support this “ Stem cells are important to biomedical researchers because they can be used to generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the human body. Stem cells are extracted from the egg after it has divided for 5 days. The egg at this stage of development is called a blastocyst. The extraction process destroys the embryo, which raises a variety of ethical concerns. Many researchers hope that one day stem cells can be used to serve as replacement cells to treat heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, and other diseases” Scientists first officially announced in November 2001 that they had successfully cloned the first human embryos for medical research.
Recombinant DNA Technology (DNA cloning)
This is the process of transferring a chosen DNA fragment from one organism to something like a bacterial plasmid. This is because then the chosen fragment of DNA can then be transmitted in another cell. It has become commonly used in biology labs today, fig 4 shows this process. (taken from )
fig 4 shows Cloning DNA in Plasmids.
By fragmenting DNA of any origin (human, animal, or plant) and inserting it in the DNA of rapidly reproducing foreign cells, billions of copies of a single gene or DNA segment can be produced in a very short time. DNA to be cloned is inserted into a plasmid (a small, self- replicating circular molecule of DNA) that is separate from chromosomal DNA. When the recombinant plasmid is introduced into bacteria, the newly inserted segment will be replicated along with the rest of the plasmid.
The process of cloning could be hugely beneficial for medical research for a number of reasons. However almost all of the reasons have a corresponding negative point. One example of how cloning could be of benefit to the medical industry is that drug-producing animals or animals which have been genetically altered to serve as human models for studying diseases could be mass produced. Reproductive cloning could be used to develop animals with special qualities which in the future could have a number of purposes. However this raises a number of issues not only regarding the ethics behind cloning but also animal testing. Another example of how the process of cloning can help medical research is that it could help with the donation of organs. Cells from a person’s body could be taken so that a clone could be produced for the purpose of harvesting them for anything from bone marrow to a heart. As this would be created through an identical copy of the persons genetic information the risk of the patients body rejecting any donor parts would be extremely
Decreased. However the idea of creating a copy of someone just so that it can be harvested is seen as extremely wrong and shouldn’t be done. Cloning can also lead to a better understanding of the causes of miscarriages and may also lead to the development of treatment which could prevent miscarriages. The prevention of parents passing on a genetic defect to a child could also be greatly decreased in the future if the cloning process is able to be developed.
Cloning in the future could be used to mass produce livestock such as chickens which can vastly improve the food industry. Cows could
also be used as “cloned beef”. However the media and public seem to opposed to this idea as it becomes clear in this article from
[Friday, 6th June 2008 www.thesun.co.uk] “BEEF from “clone calves” born in the UK could soon be on supermarket shelves, it was feared last night.
The mother of the eight animals is a clone created in a US lab from cells taken from the ear of a prize-winning beast.
The offspring were implanted into the surrogate cow in Britain.
Although milk and beef from cloned cows is banned from being sold in the UK, there is nothing to stop food products from their babies entering the food chain.
Surveys have shown most Brits are against eating meat from cloned animals.”
As shown in the green highlighted section above many people in Britain are against eating products linked to cloning. This is mainly linked to all the
Negative points associated with this controversial topic. For example a lot of clones which do survive
Often suffer from genetic defects, so some people worry whether these could have negative impacts
on humans. Also many religions such as Christianity believe that only there god has the power and right to create life and that it is wrong for scientists to attempt to “play god”. Not many people are fully aware of all the scientific facts and procedures involved in the cloning process so this can also cause anxiety and negativity towards the topic.
The cloning process can also be developed to help save endangered animals such as the giant panda. Which is shown below (image from )
The giant panda is endangered mainly due to human activity which is the case for the majority of endangered creatures. Deforestation has meant that these pandas have lost there homes, so
Therefore it is our responsibility to ensure the survival of there species.
One of these ways is through cloning, a mouse which had been frozen for 16 years managed to be cloned by scientists. A team of researchers produced the clone using DNA used from the mouse which had been preserved at minus 20°C. This shows that even animals which have been dead for an amount of time can still be cloned, as long as they are sufficiently preserved. There have also been claims that clones of animals even share the same characteristics as the original.
For example an article from [Friday 23rd may 2008www.thesun.co.uk] The company’s chief executive Lou Hawthorne had doubles of his own dog created and claims the ‘copydogs’ share the same characteristics as his first beloved pet.
Cloned ... pups
Some ethicists have condemned the offer - fearing it could lead to human clones.
Hawthorne’s former cloning company offered to replace pet cats but failed because he believes owners did not love the pets enough.
But he believes there is market for cloned dogs.
He said: "The average dog owner has a different relationship with his dog than the average cat owner.
"The level of intensity on the dog side just dwarfed what we saw on the cat side."
Three clones were made of Hawthorne’s family dog Missy who died in 2002.
Hawthorne said that after spending 15 years with Missy, he is taking pleasure in seeing her mischievous streak coming out in her clones.
They also like steamed broccoli just like she did, he said.
There is no full proof scientific explanation for this however it may be linked to the fact the dogs characteristics may be genetically related so therefore during the process of cloning the genetic information was copied and therefore can be seen in the new puppies.
In 2001, scientists in Italy reported that they had produced the first clone of an endangered animal which was a Mouflon (a type of sheep). The Mouflon is now living in a wildlife centre in Sardinia, this is just one example of how cloning could potentially save species in the future. Other possible candidates for this process include the African bongo antelope, the Sumatran tiger and the giant panda. However negatives to this is that the success rate is extremely low as the process of stripping the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with the nucleus of a donor cell is a traumatic one, advances in cloning technologies will be needed before many species can be cloned successfully.
In conclusion there are many different aspects which affect the role which cloning could play in the future. The main reason why people are against cloning is largely due to religion. At no point in the Bible does it say “thou shalt not clone” so therefore God isn’t entirely against it. Also Christians are made to treat each other as equals; however in Gods eyes everyone is the same. This is also very much the same in cloning, in the eyes of anyone they shall look the same, but for example in the cloning of humans individual personalities would develop making that person unique. Scientifically I believe the benefits outweigh the risks which is why I believe that cloning is the way of the future.
Some peoples beliefs are that “cloning is wrong and should not be done” however they are not always considering all the facts and the benefits. Therefore I believe that technology used in the process of cloning should continue and make improvements as cloning could play an important part in the future of not only our country but also the world.
Although not all sources are reliable the media sources such as are examples of the way cloning is presented to members of the public so therefore makes it easier to understand how different views are formed. For example an alternative conclusion which people could come to is that cloning is morally wrong, people should be kept as single copies the way as nature intended. The view of stem cell cloning could be seen as extremely controversial so therefore shouldn’t be done, and will probably never be something which is completely agreed upon. Many argue that it would harm what would have been a child, and once again goes against nature and many religions. Cloning could threaten people’s individuality and throw our society off balance. Many films also portray cloning as a negative issue, some people mistake what is just Hollywood fiction as fact, which would influence peoples views. Film is a powerful tool where peoples fears and expectations get explored especially anxiety related to human life and scientific intervention. Examples of some films which include the idea of a form of cloning are:
Jurassic park (1993)
Star wars: attack of the clones (2002)
The island (2005)
None of which make cloning look like a positive form of technology, they don’t include the positives and important facts which allow cloning to be seen as an opportunity. In conclusion I believe cloning could have an important part in the future if people’s views can be more optimistic and open to the scientific facts behind it.
