Cloning The Benefits and Where to Draw the Line Essays

Imagine being able to cure diseases such as Parkinson’s or diabetes. Today, more than one million Americans live with Parkinson’s disease (Statistics on Parkinson’s) and over twenty-five million have been diagnosed with diabetes (Statistics about Diabetes). Cloning could offer a cure to these diseases and more. A clone is defined as an identical copy of an organism or cell, produced from the genetic material of a single organism (Cloning). Although the process of cloning is still developing, it is quickly becoming a reality. There are two distinct types of cloning: reproductive and therapeutic. Both processes can be achieved using the same technology called nuclear transfer. Nuclear transfer is defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as†¦show more content†¦However, creating a genetically identical copy of a sexually reproducing organism is much more difficult and complex. The first successful cloning of an animal occurred in the 1950s when scientists successfully cloned frogs. The cloning was achieved by obtaining a cell from a tadpole, extracting its genetic material, and inserting that genetic material into a frog egg that had been stripped of its nucleus. The egg developed into an adult frog with identical genetics to the tadpole that had provided the nucleus. With the success in frogs, a simpler organism, scientists then began experimenting with the cloning of mammals. Clones of mammals were first produced by taking nuclei from the cells of sheep, cattle, and mice embryos and inserting the nuclei into egg cells. The resulting eggs were implanted in surrogate mother animals which gave birth to offspring that had the genetic characteristics of only one parent, the donor of the nucleus. In 1997, Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut announced the birth of a clone of an adult mammal. The team of scientists had taken a mature cell from the breast gland of a female sheep and used it to produce an embryo which was then implanted into a surrogate sheep. The embryo developed and soon a lamb named Dolly was born who was genetically identical to the sheep that had provided the original breast gland cell. Dolly later grew up and had a lamb of her own, proving that clones can reproduce. Dolly received worldwideShow MoreRelatedEssay about Cloning - The Great Human Embryo Clone Hype1638 Words   |  7 Pages      Ã‚  Ã‚   Abstract: The cloning of human embryos has sparked a major debate worldwide. New cloning methods have surpassed the technology that could only duplicate specified genes or produce offspring from frozen mice and human embryos. Cloning has been used to free would-be sufferers from a particular disease carrying gene. Likewise, out of desire to assist infertile couples and overcome the drawbacks of using in-vitro fertilization, came the newest method of cloning. Although skepticism existsRead MoreThe Ethics Of Human Cloning918 Words   |  4 Pagesand human cloning. The idea of human cloning is most interesting because it is most mysterious and very complex. The topic of human cloning inclusively brings up issues also raised in the mentioned technologies. Human cloning is of two types: therapeutic and reproductive. Therapeutic cloning aims to produce tissues or organs from cells of a cloned embryo, whereas reproductive cloning aims to further develop the cloned embryo into a human being (Glannon 89). Motivations for human cloning are therapeuticRead MoreEssay on The Dilemma of Cloning1522 Words   |  7 PagesThe Dilemma of Cloning      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Man is quickly approaching the reality of cloning a human being. Once regarded as a fantastic vision dreamed up by imaginative novelists, the possibility of creating a person in the absence of sexual intercourse has crossed over the boundaries of science fiction and into our lives. While genetic engineering has helped improve the quality of life for many people, it poses many ethical and moral questions that few are prepared to answer. The most current andRead More cloning argument Essay example1393 Words   |  6 PagesCloning: Choice is Ethical Thousands of people a year are placed on the organ donors list. Thousands of people a year are diagnosed with diseases that are dubbed fatal unless a transplant or transfusion is given. This has created a large demand for some alternative method to the present donor practice. Research in the quot;tabooquot; science of cloning seems to provide a viable method in which to aid the problem aforementioned and many others as well. But is it ethical? Cloning technology isRead MoreHuman Reproductive Cloning Is Immoral And Unnatural1570 Words   |  7 Pages Amber Cady Human Reproductive Cloning is Immoral and Unnatural Westmoreland County Community College Introduction In some ways, the never-ending scientific possibilities of our time have continued to exceed our expectations. Within the 20th century there has been new medical research on stem cell research, and we have successfully completed organ transplants—more recently face and skin transplants. Without progressions like this from science, many would not be alive today. But when doesRead More Reproducibility Of Man Essay1245 Words   |  5 PagesI am sure he didn’t expect it to parallel the arguments of today’s discussions on the ethics of cloning. In the short shadow of the replication of Dolly the sheep, and five little piglets from Virginia comes the discussion on if this practice should really be allowed, and if so, what limits do you set? How can you look in the eyes of people who have had there family members pass away because the cloning of pigs for their organs have been outlawed. But what do you say when it comes to the questionRead MoreNever Let Me Go, By Kazuo Ishiguro1068 Words   |  5 PagesAs the world keeps aging, science will keep growing with the use of technology. Scientists have tried the process of cloning for many, many years and while time has passed, scientists have been increasingly getting better at cloning and thus attempting more complicated cloning. In the 2005 novel, Never Let Me Go, human clones are created to be organ donors for humans that need an organ transplant in order to survive. Clones look like humans, have feelings like humans but are not necessarily lookedRead MoreHuman cloning and Immanuel Kant1114 Words   |  5 PagesRuben Guizar Philosophy Over the last decade, the advent of cloning and advancements in human genetic research have presented society with a complicated moral quandary. Debate rages as to what constitutes legitimate paths of inquiry and where to draw the line as to research that strikes many people as morally wrong. The basic question is: how does society determine what s right? While, of course, questions regarding human genetic research are new, this basic question is as hold as civilizationRead MoreThe Consequences of Being Smart Essay984 Words   |  4 Pages?The Consequences of Being Smart The good and bad sides of intellect and knowledge have baffled people for centuries. From the beginning of time, man has struggled to draw the line between knowledge and science, and religion, and have fought countless battles over it. However, this is no one-sided matter. The benefits and consequences of intelligence and knowledge are determined only by how it is being used. In the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, this conflict of interests tore andRead MoreThe Ethics of Cloning Essays2173 Words   |  9 Pagesliving in a society where performing a certain process, a perfect genetically identical copy of a biological entity could be produced (Cloning Fact Sheet, 1). This process is called cloning, and essentially it takes from one’s own genetic makeup to produce an exact replica. These exact replicas, known as clones, can benefit our society in many different ways; however, these benefits are not without great controversy and concerns. Proponents of cloning suggest that through cloning, humans can experience