BEYOND HUMANITY, THE MYSTERY BEHIND HUMAN CLONING

The Concept of Cloning

Source

Cloning has long been a biological phenomenon of interest for decades of years now. Until recently although, the term had been used to explain an asexual means of reproduction which applies to lower species of organisms such as plants, insects, animals...et cetera. As such, it referred to the process where genetically alike organisms are produced from naturally-occurring organisms as well. Cloning as it were could either be natural or artificial; it could be cellular and yet, it might even involve the cloning of the entire organism. In a broader sense, cloning could even be molecular, and could even involve cloning of human beings called human cloning- the focal point of this article.

Donald Marshall’s Story

Not much content is available online on the man Donald Marshall; not as much as he talks about. However, we do know that Donald Marshall someday in 2011 typed an exhaustive post on Facebook; a post recounting his experience as a ‘hostage’ of illuminati, right from his childhood, and wham! Donald Marshall had become a focal point of reference in the annals of history. He has allegedly contributed immensely to several endeavors. Foremost of them is the science of cloning, cloning centers, music et cetera. Marshall has marshaled his points to the world that he is a creative genius overall. However, he is accused of being mentally unstable by people for his claims on the Illuminati, cloning and so on. Some find his story ridiculous, some find it totally believable, but with much careful thoughts, to deny that he there might be some sense in his assertions.

Human Cloning

Human cloning, simply put, is the replication of a human being through the science of genetics. As simple as that sounds, it is not a straight-forward process. Human cloning requires series of processes on the journey of replicating a human being, product of this artificial reproduction. Donald Marshall was popular for his works on human cloning, although his ideas were somehow met with criticisms and fraught with disapprovals, but a few believe his methods to have some bearing on truth. According to Donald, two forms of cloning: replication and duplication. In his thoughts, he explains that while replication would involve developing a clone right from when it is in its infant stages till maturity in adulthood in the same duration the natural human development takes, duplication requires developing the human adult clone in a time shorter than the time the normal development takes, say five months.

Unfortunately for science, the possibilities of human cloning have not been followed through to the level it should be at. This is because of concerns about its procedures and what it stands for in totality; whether it is ethical or not, making the milestone-capable venture to be one that is shy away from for fear of indictment in countries where laws legislating against the practice has already been passed. Most of the concerns raised are noticed to lie on the religious and secular plane; not much of science in them. Cloning however has its uses in the field of science and medicine if given a chance. Take an instance of a couple suffering inability to conceive, cloning technology could come in handy right there as new offspring emerge by cloning the parent cells. Also, in cases where transplant of body part, body organ and so on during surgery is not possible for the risks involved or for lack of available donor, again cloning comes in hand. But of course, those opposing it tackle these “good reasons” for cloning as they state that the technology on ground may not be efficient to produce 100 percent result in every cloning attempt. So what happens to the humans in the failed clone attempts?
But amid all the negativities it has been met, one cannot but think that cloning is an unavoidable area for exploration as it can solve some problems that are naturally difficult to solve, for instance – prevention of extinction of endangered species. But that is a topic for another day.

Resources

"Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights" UNESCO. 1997-11-11. Retrieved 2008-02-27

Link

Holt, W. V., Pickard, A. R., & Prather, R. S. (2004) Wildlife conservation and reproductive cloning. Reproduction, 126

McFarland, Douglas (2000). "Preparation of pure cell cultures by cloning". Methods in Cell Science. 22 (1): 63–66. doi:10.1023/A:1009838416621. PMID 10650336