By Hope Mackey & Sherese Sarazen, 8th Period
When you hear the word, "cloning," what do you think of? Copies? Replicas? Doppelgangers? Twins? I suppose that all of those would be true, but cloning is basically describing the making of a copy, which is identical to its original. Mitosis, or asexual reproduction, is a great example of this. In humans and animals, cloning occurs when a fertilized egg, female sex cell, splits and will, most likely, create identical twins. In science, cloning is still being researched and tested; this type of cloning is considered artificial, and there are three types: gene, reproductive, and therapeutic. Genome.Gov says this about the different types of cloning:
“Gene cloning produces copies of genes or segments of DNA. Reproductive cloning produces copies of whole animals. Therapeutic cloning produces embryonic stem cells for experiments aimed at creating tissues to replace injured or diseased tissues.Gene cloning, also known as DNA cloning, is a very different process from reproductive and therapeutic cloning. Reproductive and therapeutic cloning share many of the same techniques, but are done for different purposes.”
Genetics are actually a huge part of genes, as well. In order to clone something, we must first understand the genetic structure of the "clonee" because clones are identical genetic copies of an organism. So, basically, cloning is just going off of the already-known facts of genetics. However, cloning may help the scientific community understand more about genes, diseases, disorders, and the way genes are read. Not only will cloning expand the scientific community, but it will also improve the economy, the overall health of every human being, and, possibly, the environment.
Did you know that plants can be cloned? In the early days of cloning, scientists would cut the stems and leaves of various plants to create clones. Another type of cloning exists, which is called recombinant DNA cloning; this type has been used since the 1970s and can create both GMOs and microbial cells. Cloning can help our society with oil spills, the economy, and the genetic structure of humans, like diseases, traits, and disorders; there is even a possibility that it can provide us with immortality. Also, the scientific community is definitely improving in the field of genetics because of cloning. Today, scientist use this and other processes of cloning to create genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs.
Did you know that plants can be cloned? In the early days of cloning, scientists would cut the stems and leaves of various plants to create clones. Another type of cloning exists, which is called recombinant DNA cloning; this type has been used since the 1970s and can create both GMOs and microbial cells. Cloning can help our society with oil spills, the economy, and the genetic structure of humans, like diseases, traits, and disorders; there is even a possibility that it can provide us with immortality. Also, the scientific community is definitely improving in the field of genetics because of cloning. Today, scientist use this and other processes of cloning to create genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs.
“In January 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration released a comprehensive study that concluded that meat and milk from cloned animals is safe for consumers,” says AGBioForum.
“It is used in genome sequencing, and also gene therapy, which can be used to correct faulty genes involved in the manifestation of genetic conditions. In genetic engineering, transgenic crops or genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) can be created to improve taste, yield, or hardiness,” says Gale Group.
“Genetically-modified and cloned microbial cells can also be produced to digest crude oil spills,” says Gale Group.
If we buy more GMOs, which can be made and sold here, the United States, we can definitely improve our economy; so, in this way, cloning can help us. However, cloning is extremely expensive if you are cloning some type of mammal. Cloning is also expensive in the way that most clones are in poor health, and the success rate of cloning is about 10%. If we start distributing these GMOs, our economy can improve, all because of cloning.
Reproductive cloning can help with the problem of endangered animals and has the possibility to revive a population, even though it has not been tested yet. Also, stem cells, which are used in the cloning process, can be used to help humans with tissue repair, burns, damaged organs, and possibly cure cancer.
There are risks to cloning. For humans, there are technical challenges as well as laws that are illegal and reinforce in order to keep reproductive cloning to become a reality. Gale Group says this about cloning and its efficiency:
“The success rates for reproductive cloning are low, with only about 10 percent of cloned animals being viable, and often the statistics are much lower.”
Not only that, but stem cells, which are still be debated over because of their coming from embryos that are three to five days old , are used in certain cloning processes.
Also, Genetics Utah says, “Cloned animals that do survive tend to be much bigger at birth than their natural counterparts. Scientists call this ‘Large Offspring Syndrome’ (LOS). Clones with LOS have abnormally large organs. This can lead to breathing, blood flow and other problems.”
Despite the pros of cloning, our society would most likely be against cloning, because it goes against the ethics or religions of many people. Cloning involves tampering with people and their genetic makeup, which could potentially affect the person or society, for the worst. And the fact that stem cells are used in some cloning processes causes even more discord.
To find out what people's opinions are on cloning, we interviewed six people (two teachers, two adults, and two high school students). Here are the results we received:
Firstly we asked the two teachers this question: What are your opinions on cloning and stem cells? Would you be for or against it?
Mr. Guu, an assistant teacher at WCTA, said this: “I’m for it, because this can save people’s lives; the stem cells help people with diabetes and other problems and can save people’s lives. Cloning can be good or bad; I’m neither for nor against it, but I prefer it, because you can have the best quality of something. The bad thing is that cloning may destroy something; something will go too far; these kinds of problems in cloning can have the potential to hurt humans."
Mrs. Rosen, who is a biology teacher at WCTA, answered this: "I can see the potential for stem cells and how we can use them in our research of genetic diseases and disorders. When it comes to cloning, however, I don't see that happening, simply because of the moral and ethical dilemma. If you're going to be cloning a human life, there's a big debate on what life is and what life isn't. Personally, I wouldn't invest my money in cloning or consider cloning to assist in any diseases and disorders with my family members or myself."
Next, we decided to ask the adults and students this question: Do you know what cloning is? If so, what are your thoughts on the subject?
Haley Dorn, an environmental science major at WCTA, said this: "I think cloning is awesome because that means that we can clone ourselves and fill the world with our awesomeness."
Jamie Hall, another environmental science major at WCTA, answered this: "Yes, I do. And I think it's fine as long as it doesn't hurt the organism or corrupt its genes."
Robert Mackey, another parent, said this: "Yes, and I think that if it's used in good conscience and it's beneficial to mankind, economical and safe, then, yes, I'm for it."
Overall, we, personally, believe that cloning would improve our society for the better. Cloning can improve the field of science, the economic state of the United States, the environmental issues, and the study of genetics. However, we are mostly against cloning. Cloning only has a 10% chance of success, and most clones that are successful suffer from poor health. Also, we wouldn’t have a problem with cloning if society would be more for the subject. Most importantly, we believe that it would be safer if mankind left this type of matter, which has a huge potential to go wrong, alone.
Mrs. Rosen, who is a biology teacher at WCTA, answered this: "I can see the potential for stem cells and how we can use them in our research of genetic diseases and disorders. When it comes to cloning, however, I don't see that happening, simply because of the moral and ethical dilemma. If you're going to be cloning a human life, there's a big debate on what life is and what life isn't. Personally, I wouldn't invest my money in cloning or consider cloning to assist in any diseases and disorders with my family members or myself."
Next, we decided to ask the adults and students this question: Do you know what cloning is? If so, what are your thoughts on the subject?
Haley Dorn, an environmental science major at WCTA, said this: "I think cloning is awesome because that means that we can clone ourselves and fill the world with our awesomeness."
Lynese Sarazen, a parent, answered this: "Cloning is the replication of DNA and body cells to make the same type of human and/or animal. In general, I'm a little scared of cloning, only because of the fact that we do not fully understand the total DNA anatomy of the human and/or animal, and we don't really understand the potential side effects that could come along; like the person/clone may have a bad gene, and that gene could be replicated, which could be a bad thing."
Jamie Hall, another environmental science major at WCTA, answered this: "Yes, I do. And I think it's fine as long as it doesn't hurt the organism or corrupt its genes."
Robert Mackey, another parent, said this: "Yes, and I think that if it's used in good conscience and it's beneficial to mankind, economical and safe, then, yes, I'm for it."
Overall, we, personally, believe that cloning would improve our society for the better. Cloning can improve the field of science, the economic state of the United States, the environmental issues, and the study of genetics. However, we are mostly against cloning. Cloning only has a 10% chance of success, and most clones that are successful suffer from poor health. Also, we wouldn’t have a problem with cloning if society would be more for the subject. Most importantly, we believe that it would be safer if mankind left this type of matter, which has a huge potential to go wrong, alone.
Sources:
LaPensee, K. T. (2012). Cloning. In B. W. Lerner & K. L. Lerner (Eds.), In Context Series. Biotechnology: In Context. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/scic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=SCIC&action=e&catId=GALE%7C00000000MTTQ&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CCAICFR484389468&source=Bookmark&u=las89135&jsid=4c9616f6080afbb1519e8951b88a45b8
Genome.Gov. (n.d.). Cloning. Retrieved from
Butler, L.J., & Wolf, M.M. (2010). Economic analysis of the impact of cloning on improving dairy herd composition. AgBioForum, 13(2), 194-207. Available on the World Wide Web:
Petechuk, David. "Clone and cloning." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 5th ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. Science in Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. Retrieved from
Genetics Utah. (n.d.). What are the Risks of Cloning? Retrieved from
Genetic Science Learning Center (2014, June 22) Why Clone?. Learn.Genetics. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from
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