Cloning- Is human cloning really so far fetched?
For years, many movies and televisions series's have been created by movie producers about cloning. The most recent one I have seen was "The island" and although it is only a movie, it made me think about human cloning and the repercussions if anyone was to create a human clone of me. I don't think the world will be able to handle more than one of me :)
I had a class discussion with my students on this topic and it changed into a very heated discussion. (which was not my intention.) We discussed the positive and the negative sides of cloning and most of the students decided that cloning is an act of playing "god"
Scientists have been playing with this idea for a very long time. They have succeeded in cloning a few animals already, and the first clone was the famous "Dolly" the sheep.
So what is cloning?
a Cell, cell product, or organism that is genetically identical to the unit or individual from which it was derived. A population of identical units, cells, or individuals that derive from the same ancestral line.
Why do scientists want to clone organisms?
If you have watched the movie the Island, then you would understand how beneficial cloning would be to the human race. Even though they used real people to clone and kill for their organs in the movie, it is highly possible to implant animals (like pigs) with human stem cells to grow specific organs. Cloning could be used to build stem cells, which is identical to your own cells, and these Stem cells could be used to create organs. These organs would then grow and be used for transplants. There would be no rejection of the organ, as it would be 100% genetically compatible with your body.
a Stem cell is an undifferentiated cell of a multi cellular organism that is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cells arise by differentiation.
Although there has never been any human cloning done, some scientists claimed to have succeeded in this technology.
In 1998, scientists in South Korea claimed to have successfully cloned a human embryo, but said the experiment was interrupted very early when the clone was just a group of four cells. In 2002, Clonaid, part of a religious group that believes humans were created by extraterrestrials, held a news conference to announce the birth of what it claimed to be the first cloned human, a girl named Eve. However, despite repeated requests by the research community and the news media, Clonaid never provided any evidence to confirm the existence of this clone or the other 12 human clones it purportedly created.
Whether this is true or not, we may never know.......... but imagine they did succeed.
Do you realize all the possible advantages here?
- If animals could be cloned from possible left over DNA, we would be able to make these extinct animals come back to life. Animals like the West African Black Rhino would no longer be extinct. What about Dinosaurs? We would actually be able to create our own Jurassic park.
- Much more research could be done by scientists about human genes, and possible traits could be replicated into creating a human being with a better gene pool.
- Super plants can be created. Although humans have successfully been cloning plants for hundreds of years, we could use cloning technology to create better trees with larger fruit, plants with better flowers and other features that could be very useful to humankind.
Although there are many disadvantages to cloning I do believe that the advantages outweighs the negatives. If cloning is done in the right way without harming anyone, or people trying to play God, then I think the possibilities are endless.
The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. William Shakespeare
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There is a whistleblower by the name of Donald Marshall who says that he, and MANY others, have been cloned and is trying to put a stop to it. He says that there are cloning centers all throughout the world, above and below ground ran by psychopaths.
I even made a video and uploaded it to YouTube called: Who is whistleblower Donald Marshall and why should I care about human cloning?
@fulltimegeek thank you, I will definitely watch this now. I do believe that there are crazy scientists out there who run these experiments.
What's the problem with playing god?
Excellent point. It's a tough prejudice to get rid of. For as long as stories have existes, I imagine it's been 'implanted' in our subconscious, the collective unconscious, via cautionary promethean, icarian tales. In modern times there's also the "we are all special" collective thought, and cloning is very threatening to this belief
In my religion God is the ultimate creator of all things. Although He gives us the knowledge to create new things, I do not believe that He wants us to be equal to Him.
The DNA is only the tip of the iceberg. Mitochondrial heritage and plenty of other factors also have their say.
I do not even think that there is not much interest or even money in merely copying embryos as such.
Not even for breeding animal species. Get identical clones and as soon as a disease they are vulnerable to hits your stock, there are all gone.
Genetic diversity is a financial isssue. To some extent.
And about plastic rhinos without their natural surroundings? They die out for a reason. And this reason is not reverted in a lab.
Controlling stem cell differentiation is a totally different story.
There sure is big money in that.
i was going to comment but it looks as though the people here have it all covered. my only thought to add is, how dis-mis-uninformed would someone have to be to think this has not already been done?