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Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of an existing
or previously existing human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial
human cloning; human clones in the form of identical twins are commonplace,
with their cloning occurring during the natural process of reproduction. There
are two commonly discussed types of human cloning: therapeutic cloning and
reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning involves cloning cells from an adult
for use in medicine and is an active area of research: while reproductive
cloning would involve making cloned human beings. Such reproductive
cloning has not been performed and is illegal in many countries. A third type of
cloning called replacement cloning is a theoretical possibility, and would be a
combination of therapeutic and reproductive cloning. Replacement cloning
would entail the replacement of an extensively damaged, failed, or failing body
through cloning followed by whole or partial brain transplant.
The various forms of human cloning are controversial. There have been
numerous demands for all progress in the human cloning field to be halted.
Some people and groups oppose therapeutic cloning, but most scientific,
governmental and religious organizations oppose reproductive cloning. The
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and other
scientific organizations have made public statements suggesting that human
reproductive cloning be banned until safety issues are resolved . Serious
ethical concerns have been raised by the idea that it might be possible in the
future to harvest organs from clones. Some people have considered the idea of
growing organs separately from a human organism - in doing this, a new organ
supply could be established without the moral implications of harvesting them
from humans. Research is also being done on the idea of growing organs that
are biologically acceptable to the human body inside of other organisms, such
as pigs or cows, then transplanting them to humans, a form of
xenotransplantation.
The first human hybrid human clone was created in November 1998, by
American Cell Technologies. It was created from a man's leg cell, and a cow's
egg whose DNA was removed. It was destroyed after 12 days. Since a normal
embryo implants at 14 days, Dr Robert Lanza, ACT's director of tissue
engineering, told the Daily Mail newspaper that the embryo could not be seen
as a person before 14 days. While making an embryo, which may have resulted
in complete human had it been allowed to come to term, according to ACT:
"ACT's aim was 'therapeutic cloning' not 'reproductive cloning'"
On January, 2008, Wood and Andrew French, Stemagen's chief scientific
officer in California, announced that they successfully created the first 5
mature human embryos using DNA from adult skin cells, aiming to provide a
source of viable embryonic stem cells. Dr. Samuel Wood and a colleague
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donated skin cells, and DNA from those cells was transferred to human eggs. It
is not clear if the embryos produced would have been capable of further
development, but Dr. Wood stated that if that were possible, using the
technology for reproductive cloning would be both unethical and illegal. The 5
cloned embryos, created in Stemagen Corporation lab, in La Jolla.
How is cloning done?
You may have first heard of cloning when Dolly the Sheep showed up on the
scene in 1997. Cloning technologies have been around for much longer than
Dolly, though.
How does one go about making an exact genetic copy of an organism? There are
a couple of ways to do this: artificial embryo twinning and somatic cell nuclear
transfer. How do these processes differ?
1. Artificial Embryo Twinning
Artificial embryo twinning is the relatively low-tech version of cloning. As the
name suggests, this technology mimics the natural process of creating identical
twins.
In nature, twins occur just after fertilization of an egg cell by a sperm cell. In rare
cases, when the resulting fertilized egg, called a zygote, tries to divide into a two-
celled embryo, the two cells separate. Each cell continues dividing on its own,
ultimately developing into a separate individual within the mother. Since the two
cells came from the same zygote, the resulting individuals are genetically
identical.
Artificial embryo twinning uses the same approach, but it occurs in a Petri dish
instead of in the mother's body. This is accomplished by manually separating a
very early embryo into individual cells, and then allowing each cell to divide and
develop on its own. The resulting embryos are placed into a surrogate mother,
where they are carried to term and delivered. Again, since all the embryos came
from the same zygote, they are genetically identical.
2. Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
Somatic cell nuclear transfer, (SCNT) uses a different approach than artificial
embryo twinning, but it produces the same result: an exact clone, or genetic
copy, of an individual. This was the method used to create Dolly the Sheep.
What does SCNT mean? Let's take it apart:
Somatic cell: A somatic cell is any cell in the body other than the two types of
reproductive cells, sperm and egg. These are also called germ cells. In mammals,
every somatic cell has two complete sets of chromosomes, whereas the germ
cells only have one complete set.
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Nuclear: The nucleus is like the cell's brain. It's an enclosed compartment that
contains all the information that cells need to form an organism. This information
comes in the form of DNA. It's the differences in our DNA that make each of us
unique.
Transfer: Moving an object from one place to another.
To make Dolly, researchers isolated a somatic cell from an adult female sheep.
Next, they transferred the nucleus from that cell to an egg cell from which the
nucleus had been removed. After a couple of chemical tweaks, the egg cell, with
its new nucleus, was behaving just like a freshly fertilized zygote. It developed
into an embryo, which was implanted into a surrogate mother and carried to term.
SHOULD THE HUMAN CLONING IS EXPECTED TO BENEFIT MANKIND?
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Yes,i totally agree for this human cloning to benefit mankind because
Human cloning technology could be used to reverse heart attacks. Scientists
believe that they may be able to treat heart attack victims by cloning their healthy
heart cells and injecting them into the areas of the heart that have been
damaged. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States and several
other industrialized countries.
Supporters of human cloning contend that cloning would be beneficial as a
therapeutic treatment for people with diseases and other medically related
problems. Stem cell technology is a cloning based method used to grow stem
cells in order to develop specialized tissues that may help repair dead or
damaged tissues and organs. For example, healthy heart cells could be cloned
and injected into damaged areas of the heart in a heart attack victim. Some
researchers propose that cloning could be used to treat such problems as nerve
damage, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, heart failure, severe
burns, lung damage, liver failure, kidney failure, and cancer. Advocates of human
cloning reason that cloning one's own cells rather than transplant organs or
engineering tissues to replace dead or damaged ones, will prevent rejection from
their immune system. Other supporters feel that producing cloned offspring will
allow couples to have biological children that they would have otherwise been
unable to conceive because of either infertility problems or genetic defects.
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However when asked to define human cloning can give to benefit of
mankind but many people disagree for human cloning because they feel that
cloning is immoral and a bad idea for the following reason. First of all cloning
may reduce genetic variability. Producing many clones runs the risk of creating a
population that is entirely the same. This population would be susceptible to the
same diseases. That means that one disease could devastate an entire
population. One could easily picture the human race being wiped out by a single
virus. However, less drastic but more probable events could occur from lack of
genetic diversity. For example, if a large percent of the nation cattle population
are clones, a particular strain of mad cow disease could affect the entire
population. The result could be catastrophic food shortages. If human identical
clones are made and disease strikes, what could we do to stop it from
devastating our entire population? How many people would have to suffer and
die for the sake of technology?
Second, cloning is currently a very expensive process. It requires large
amounts of money and biological expertise. It took Ian Wilmut and his associates
277 tries to successfully create Dolly. Since then a new cloning technique has
been created that I is proven to be more reliable. Although, even this technique
has a 2% to 3% success rate. How much money would the United States be
willing to spend on this project? Money that could otherwise be spent on things
such as social security, Medicare, defense, roads, education, and towards our
environment. Any research would eventually need to be tested on human beings.
The ability to clone humans may lead to the genetic tailoring of offspring. It is
conceivable that a scientist will be able to determine a baby's eye and hair colour.
In most cases even the baby's gender, or its' resistance to a certain disease.
Last but not least, let it be known that a clone is not an exact replica of another, it
is simply a delayed identical twin. As with an identical twin the clone would have
a different set of fingerprints. Scientists are concerned with the medical risks and
uncertainty associated with the cloning of humans. Because clones are derived
from an already existing adult cell, it has older genes. One fear is that if a baby is
cloned, its chromosomes would match that of the donors. Meaning that a 5-year-
old would look like a 10-year-old and a 10-year-old would look like a 20-year-old,
with potential for heart disease and cancer to develop. Will the clones' life
expectancy be shorter? Don't ask me, I don't know. Yet, neither do the scientists
that are pushing to create them. Of all the things that cloning might be used for, it
could be used to create a genetic underclass that could be used as slaves in the
years to come, or on a more positive note it could be used to create humans with
sub normal intelligence and above normal strength that could someday rule the
world.
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In the past few years , human cloning has gone from a laboratory fantasy
to a global debate. There a many agreements supporting both negative and
positive effects of human cloning. Human cloning raises a lot of challenging
questions about human liberty,dignity and identity. will Human cloning be a
great step for man,or will it lead to moral abyss? This question is asked the time.
With great research one would realize that with the implementation of human
cloning,there would be a huge medical and non-medical advancement. People
with superior or mental attributes would be cloned, large armies could be created,
single and infertile parents could have children, and certain species could be
saved from extinction. In contrast to all the positives of human cloning, there are
more negatives related to the subject, mostly moral and ethical negatives coming
from ethicists, psychologists, theologians and the church, as well as many
mandated laws against the cloning of humans. Cloning could also cause a
serious overpopulation crisis. But I don’t think so because human cloning can
helping to mankind life especially can better they life for a good healthy.
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1. Bookrags. Human cloning and human dignity
The reports of the president science( LEON R. MASS M.D)
2. [Link]
3. Paper of Roslin Institute Scotland,u.k.
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ADVANCED ENGLISH II
HUMAN CLONNING
PREPARED BY : AMIE SAID
MATRIC NUMBER : P 04093001
PREPARED FOR : MISS BALIQIS BT RAMLI
APRIL 2009
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