It was first heard from Scientists in Scotland that they had successfully cloned a sheep called ‘Dolly’, who was the first mammal to be reproduced identically from an adult cell rather than from the embryo. She was born on the 5th of July 1996. Since then Scientist have been going further with their research.
The picture of the cloned ‘Dolly the sheep’
Cloning might seem successful, but there are some problems with the experiment. Even the successful ones develop problems later on like during the animals development to childhood.
Cloned animals tend to have more compromised immune function and higher rates of infection, tumour growth, and other disorders. They tend to die younger than they are expected to. Appearing healthy at a young age unfortunately is not a good indicator of long term survival. Clones have been known to die mysteriously. For example, Australia's first cloned sheep appeared healthy and energetic on the day she died, and the results from her autopsy failed to determine a cause of death.
Reproductive cloning is expensive and highly inefficient. More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring. It requires a lot of expertise. The technique is so dangerous that it damages the embryos.
Should humans be cloned? That is the question most people ask, but it’s been said that there are some ethical, religious and legal issues surrounding cloning human.
Due to the inefficiency of animal cloning (only about 1 or 2 viable offspring for every 100 experiments) and the lack of understanding about reproductive cloning, many scientists and physicians strongly believe that it would be unethical to attempt to clone humans. Not only do most attempts to clone mammals fail, about 30% of clones born alive are affected with "large offspring syndrome" and other debilitating conditions. Several cloned animals have died prematurely from infections and other complications. The same problems would be expected in human cloning. In addition, scientists do not know how cloning could impact mental development. While factors such as intellect and mood may not be as important for a sheep or cow, they are crucial for the development of healthy humans. With so many unknowns concerning reproductive cloning, the attempt to clone humans at this time is considered potentially dangerous and ethically irresponsible.
When a clone is produced of another human being, it is only their identical twin. Like any pair of identical twins, clones will have the same DNA, but different personalities, intelligence, talents.
Despite all these risks, problems and issues with cloning humans or animals there are still some benefits of cloning.
Cloned human cells could be used to produce human tissues for medical treatment that is embryonic stem cells can be grown to produce organs or tissues to repair or replace damaged ones. With cloning, infertile couples could have children. Another benefit from modern cloning is in agriculture. Farmers and ranchers can now have their strongest crops and animals twinned so that they are less likely to contract diseases.
Unlike the prospects of human cloning, the prospects of animal cloning are endless, and scientists are extremely excited. Some scientists believe that cloning animal could help to stop one of the most pressing environmental problems.
Cloned plants and animals could be used to improve the quantity and quality of many of the other materials necessary for human existence, including clothing (cotton, wool, leather, feathers), shelter (lumber, thatch), fuels (wood, dung), and the raw materials needed for various manufacturing and building industries (bamboo, wood, paper, wool, cotton).
The scientists who cloned Dolly are to stop experiments involving genetically modifying pigs for human organ transplants because of concerns that deadly new diseases could be passed on to people.
However Cloning seems interesting to some, but some have a diverse and strongly held opinions regarding the morality of cloning (humans especially).
Individuals in the general community should have at least a basic understanding of human genetics before they raise their thoughts and opinions about the risks and implications of human cloning. True, everybody has a right to an opinion; but opinions based on superficial knowledge and obscure sources of information are not only useless, but damaging.
If through this method we maybe save lives, why not try?