Bioethics Cloning Essay Research Paper The

Bioethics Cloning Essay, Research Paper

The biological definition of a clone is an organism that has the same genetic information as another organism or organisms (Nash, 62-65). From this definition and from information about the science behind cloning, my current view on cloning is that it is ethical, but should not be used until perfected. This statement ignores information about how we can misuse cloning and what consequences occur when the procedure is unsuccessful. I doubt however that we will allow cloning to be misused, and think most people would probably have this opinion on cloning, but their lack of knowledge on cloning, or their belief that cloning would be misused, is the reason for differences of opinion. Thus, an elaboration on the history, techniques, ethics, and reasons for researching the technology of cloning is necessary.

WHAT IS CLONING.

The first things that must be cleared up are the questions, what is cloning, and what is a clone. A clone is an organism derived asexually from a single individual by cuttings, bulbs, tubers, fission, or parthenogenesis reproduction (Griffin, Roslin Institute Online). Parthenogenesis reproduction is the development of an organism from an unfertilized ovum, seed or spore (Griffin, Roslin Institute Online). So in other words, cloning is any process in which production of a clone is successful. Thus, the biological term cloning is the production of a genetically identical duplicate of an organism.

Successful cloning has occurred with livestock. The drive toward success is not because livestock like cows and sheep are model organisms. Instead, the farming industry has made and continues to make a big effort toward finding a way to implement the technique of nuclear transfer for livestock. Research in cloning is also occurring in primates. The reason for studying primates is for their similarities with humans- large brain, opposable thumbs, etc. This leads to the most talked about aspects of cloning, the use of the techniques with human cells and eggs.

CONTROVERSY

Throughout the recent years, conversation, novels, magazine articles, newspaper reports, and movies have focused on what would happen if humans were cloned. Part of this media creates thoughts of a utopian society, while some think of a horrific world; the majority of them being the latter of the two.

For those who have had these frightening thoughts, Dr. Richard Seed states he can accomplish the task of cloning a human using nuclear transfer. Dr. Seed is a physicist who researched fertility sciences in the 1980’s and is now specializing in embryology. He states that he has set up a fertility clinic that can conduct nuclear transfer. Dr. Richard Seed is creating uproar regarding the ethics of cloning. This is ironic because cloning has occurred (Flock, 1998).

The cloning of humans in a biological sense already is occurring. Scientists are researching by splitting embryos to execute experiments to find data relating to cell differentiation, the use of stem cells, and genetic screening (Benoit, Human Eng.). Amazingly, genetic screening is occurring in Britain quite often! Fertility clinics aim this service toward couples where the mother or father has a genetic disorder. A fertility clinic will clone an embryo, then test it for genetic disorders, and if the embryo is tested negative for genetic disorders, then the fertility clinic implants a clone of that embryo. This should guarantee that the child will not have any genetic disorders (Benoit, Human Eng.).

That is the current work with cloning. It is becoming a part of our society already. Cloning is currently a technology that many people could use. I believe it will become more popular as prices for the technique decreases, and as the use of cloning become increasingly acceptable. That is if we humans consider cloning an acceptable technology, and that we would like to use for the twenty-first century. Cloning has progressed so quickly, few of us know if we should be even fooling with this technology. Some scientists say that we put technologies to use once the pros outweigh the cons.

During the late seventies and early eighties, there were few scientists still studying cloning. Many had predicted that it was impossible to clone embryonic mammal cells. Few continued with research, and many gave up and went into other fields. However, some persisted and were rewarded for their efforts.

In 1984, Dr. Steene Willadsen announced that he had successfully transferred nuclei from embryos of sheep to produce clones (Kolata, NY Times). He also was successful with cows and even monkeys. He advanced his methods, and began cloning embryos that were in the 64-128 cell-stage. This suggested that perhaps nuclear transfer was possible with differentiated cells. Two years later, Dr. Ian Wilmut and Dr. Keith Campbell, of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, produced for the world Megan and Morag, the first cloned sheep from embryo cells (Griffin, Roslin Online Institute).

DOLLY- THE FIRST

On July 5 at 4:00 P.M. lamb number 6LL3, or Dolly, was born in a shed down the road from the Institute (Travis, Science News). She weighed in at 14 pounds and was healthy. Scientists accomplished this by using frozen mammary cells taken from a six-year-old pregnant ewe and fusing them with an enucleated egg. This procedure occurred la