Identical twins.
Identical twins are formed when a fertilised egg cell splits into two cells. This means that they are genetically identical. However, fraternal twins are not identical, as each embryo has a different genetic make up.
The diagram above shows how twins are formed. It illustrates how identical twins are genetically identical due to the way they are created.
Artificial cloning.
Scientists can also create clones artificially in many ways.
On the next page is a table showing the ways that we can clone artificially, and on what the methods are used on.
Artificial cloning: ways we can clone:
How was Dolly cloned?
As I mentioned above, Dolly was created by adult cell cloning.
Above is a diagram that shows how Dolly was created. Scientists take an unfertilized egg from a donor female sheep, sheep B. They then remove the nucleus from the egg and replace it with the nucleus of the body cell taken from sheep A. The nucleus from sheep A fuses with the egg cell from sheep B. This fused cell develops into an embryo. This is then placed into the uterus of a host sheep. A lamb is later born. This lamb will be a clone of sheep A, as they are genetically identical, but not of sheep B or the host sheep, as the lamb does not share any genetic information with these sheep.
Therapeutic cloning and stem cells.
Stem cells: unspecialised cells that can grow into any type of cell in the human body (as long as the stem cells are human).
Stem cells can be used to produce new cells to treat patients with some disease, for example, someone with Parkinson’s disease would benefit from new brain cells created from stem cells. However, in order to avoid rejection, these new cells would have to have the same genetic information as the patient.
Scientists could use therapeutic cloning to avoid rejection. Scientists could create an embryo with the same genes as the patient. Then, the stem cells from the embryo would have the same genetic information as the patient. This would mean that there would be no rejection issues with cells created in this way.
However, this technology is still quite new and so it is quite unsuccessful, but when scientists can successfully use therapeutic cloning, many people would benefit from it and their lives would be greatly improved.
The diagram above shows the process of therapeutic cloning.
Who would benefit from cloning?
Depending upon the type of cloning, different people will benefit.
As you can see from the table above, whilst many people would benefit from cloning, many would also be harmed. This is why there are so many laws surrounding cloning.
The law surrounding cloning:
Should we or shouldn’t we be cloning?
“We should be cloning”
Many people lives can be saved or changed for the better through cloning. The lives of farmers would be improved through both fusion cell cloning and embryo transplants. They could use cloning like selective breeding is used, and always have the type of animal that they like best. Farmers could make more money. (this is looking to the future, when cloning may not be such a rare occurrence) Embryo transplants could help those in third world countries with little food as meat could be produced on a large scale, meaning more food for the starving. Millions of people with life threatening diseases could be saved using therapeutic cloning. New brain cells could be made for those with Parkinson’s disease, new organs could be made. This would solve the organ donor crisis that is currently ruining the lives of many people. Using therapeutic cloning would mean that there would be no rejection issues like there are with organ donation. Many scientists do not want to clone as they view it as unethical.
“We should not be cloning”
If farmers did begin to use cloning in order to manage their livestock, which at the moment is highly unlikely, then farmers who used the traditional methods to produce livestock would not be able to compete with farmers who don’t, and they would then be pushed out of business. Also, if a farmer chooses to always have clones of his best animal, then there may be a disease that that one animal couldn’t fight off and so all of his animals would die, as they are all genetically the same as the first animal. Some people consider an embryo to be human, and so using an embryo for therapeutic cloning would be seen as murder. Animal rights campaigners are against both fusion cell cloning and embryo transplants, as for every 100 experiments that scientist do, only 1 or 2 survive and of this 30% are born with debilitating diseases. People are
also worried that scientists will try to clone humans. This is when cloning will get really messy, as then it’s not animal rights, but human rights that you have to be careful of. Furthermore, scientists are worried that cloning may impact the cloned human’s mental development, which is vital for a healthy human more than it is for a healthy mouse for example. Despite this, some scientists will still want to clone for
the acknowledgement they would receive. Also, dolly the sheep died unnaturally young for a sheep, she died in 2003 when she was put down by lethal injection. She lived to only 6 years of age whilst many sheep of her breed live to around 12.Some people fear this may be caused by cloning from an adult. If so, this is unfair on the animal.
For more information on who would be affected by cloning, see Table II.
How reliable are my sources?
None of my sources conflict with other sources and none are biased, as they mention both the sides of cloning. References 2 and 4 are taken from the same textbook. As it is a textbook, both sides will have been looked at in order to give good, factual knowledge. Reference 3 is from a revision site based on the textbook, and so again, both sides will have been looked at. Reference 5 is also unbiased, even though the name of the site suggests it will be. But it mentions both the pros and cons of cloning. All give factual evidence that does not conflict with my other sources.
All of my diagrams are factual and do not conflict with each other or my references. However, figure D is from an American site, and so the laws listed may be American. However, it illustrates the fact that there are many laws involved in cloning, and so I chose to include it.
Who will be affected by cloning?
See Table II for information on who will be affected.
The main people who will affected by cloning are: -Patients
-The embryos
Are there any alternatives?
Yes, there are alternatives to cloning. For therapeutic cloning, donor organs however there are rejection issues with this, and farmers using cloning, they already use selective breeding to get the best crops/livestock, and so can continue to use it.
Must any laws be considered?
Yes, there are many laws surrounding cloning (see figure D for a rough guide) and these help prevent people from mistreating the technology. Laws vary from country to country, but there are also a few international laws on cloning.
Conclusion: should we be cloning?
I feel that we do not know enough about cloning to be using it regularly, however, in order to gain more knowledge on cloning, we have to experiment, and so I think that as long as we do not experiment on humans, then it is forgivable although animal rights campaigners may not agree with me. Whilst I think that therapeutic cloning is a great idea, I think that scientists need to learn more about it before they begin to use it on humans. Overall, I think that we should be cloning, but not on humans and not too much before we know more about it.
References
In text:
Figures/Diagrams:
