Cloning: is Two Really Better than One

The term cloning define different processes that are generally used produce identical copies of a biological beings. The copied being is known as the clone. Researchers have cloned a variety of things ranging from as small as cells and tissues to entire organisms. Ever since The famous Cloning Experiment of Dolly the Sheep, humanity as a whole have been prompt to think about cloning. There have been many books and movies that were made revolving around this abstract idea. In fact, over the years, the word has become quite a controversy. As soon as the word is mentioned, there are bound to be arguments spilled over it. The public is divided about just how safe or unsafe of therefore cloning really is. The biggest argument here is that Cloning is very unethical and involves many great risks.

Artificial cloning can be split into three different types. Gene cloning occurs in the small level, it makes copies of segments of DNA. The second type is reproductive cloning. This is used to produce the clone of a whole animal. This is what normally comes to mind when one mentions cloning. Lastly, we have therapeutic cloning. This procedure is used to produce stem cells to replace bad tissues. Gene cloning is used for scientific purposes where researchers use to duplicate genes that want to intensively study on. Therapeutic cloning's process includes making an embryo exactly the same as donor's. It is then used in experiments in order to study the further treatment of a certain disease or whatnot.

The process of reproductive cloning involves the removal of a somatic cell from the original being. The cell then gets transferred onto an egg cell that has had its own DNA removed. In this sense, the egg is but a safe keeping space to nurture what's being transferred over. The egg is then placed inside of the reproductive organ of the organism in question where it will be incubated and allowed to grow and develop until it is ready. The ultimate result is for the birth giver, or surrogate mother, in this case whatever animal is being used to give birth to an organism that is exactly identical to the original that has donated over their genetic material. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the birth of a clone.

In the last couple of decades, cloning experiments have been performed over many types of animals. It started with small benign such as mice. Mice were always used in experiments anyways, and this wouldn't be any different. Soon after, farm animals got their turn, sheeps, cows, chickens, and the famous Dolly the Sheep.

It must be said at this point that none of these cloning experiments were successful. Reproductive cloning is very inefficient and almost in all cases, the cloned being die young due to health complications. For example, even the most famous Dolly the Sheep only lived 6 years, half of that of a regular healthy sheeped conceived naturally. Additionally, Dolly was the only clone to be successfully born of a whopping sum of 277 cloned sheep embryos. This goes to show show just how much risk, material and time and energy is involved. In one instance, researchers in Japan cloned eight calves from the stem cells of one cow, but only four survived.

Besides the lifespan of an animal being shortened, there are also health side effects to the cloned animals. Many clones will have defects in their vital organs that prevent them from living normally. Other effects includes premature aging and a weak immune system. That is, if the clones will even be born to face these problems.

Gene cloning and therapeutic cloning both aim to help treat certain diseases. Reproductive cloning is a whole other ball game. Once cloning is used to create a whole being, it becomes wrong. Cloning, in that sense, is inhumane. Reproductive cloning demotes the human status to merely lab experiments. It's true, cloning do occur in nature. There are some plants and bacterias that reproduce asexually through chunking off parts of themselves to make genetically identical offspring. However, this occurs on the microscopic level for a reason, that's for their survival, on humans, it's a whole other story. Humans produce natural clones as well, they are known as twins. This also happens in other mammal species. Twins are made when a fertilized egg splits into two while having the exact same genetic material. But artificial will only cause chaos in this sense.

Now, let's apply what we have so far onto humans, and we get catastrophe. Theoretically, reproductive cloning would mean that a human could be created that would be genetically identical to one that is already in existence, by no means of natural blood relations. By all means this conflicts with the values of the human race as a whole on many different levels.

Cloning animals is already a risky process, cloning humans who be the same plus a lot more other problems that would conflict with human dignity and freedom, not to mention the added health complications that would come with it.

A cloned human in it's sense is not a being by itself. A cloned human is not an individual anymore, it is a mere copy. Whereas many animals of other species may look the same, we as

humans possess unique characteristics and features that makes us different. Once a clone comes along, it changes all that. Others may argue that clones can be useful during medical emergencies, say when someone is in need of organ transplants. The real question to ask here is are human clones going to be used solely for that reason? Are we going to have a human organs factory? It is completely absurd and inhumane. What of the clone's life. Think about raising a clone child, would they be treated the same way as any other children or would they be made known of their purpose early on? It is just complete madness to think of telling a child that all they're ever good for is to be a flesh incubator for people waiting to use their organs. And all that is only if the child gets to be cloned successfully. After that, if they're evn healthy enough to live to a mature age of usefulness.

From either standpoints of usefulness and ethics, cloning is not the answer. Yes, technology maybe improving and we could in theory make everything come true, and find a solution to all the problems, btu what of the process in between? What becomes of the failed experiment?

Works Cited

Nutrition & the Epigenome, learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/whatiscloning/.

How Much Do Stem Cell Treatments Really Cost? | Center for Genetics and Society, www.geneticsandsociety.org/internal-content/reproductive-cloning-arguments-pro-and-con.

Boyle, Alan. Cloning: How, Why ... and Why Not. NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 4 Nov. 2003, www.nbcnews.com/id/3076911/ns/health-cloning/t/cloning-how-why-why-not/#.XANh JKiM 9.

Cloning Fact Sheet. National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), www.genome.gov/25020028/cloning-fact-sheet/.

Cosgrove-Mather, Bootie. More Bad News For Cloning. CBS News, CBS Interactive, 28 Feb. 2002, www.cbsnews.com/news/more-bad-news-for-cloning/.

Geib, Claudia. We're Getting Closer to Cloning Humans. Here's What's Stopping Us. Futurism, Futurism, 16 Apr. 2018, futurism.com/human-cloning-whats-stopping.

Sample, Ian. Why Is It Dangerous to Clone Humans? The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 22 Jan. 2004, www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jan/22/thisweekssciencequestions.

Weintraub, Karen. 20 Years after Dolly the Sheep Led the Way-Where Is Cloning Now? Scientific American, 5 July 2016, www.scientificamerican.com/article/20-years-after-dolly-the-sheep-led-the-way-where-is-cloning-now/.

Weintraub, Karen. 20 Years after Dolly the Sheep Led the Way-Where Is Cloning Now? Scientific American, 5 July 2016, www.scientificamerican.com/article/20-years-after-dolly-the-sheep-led-the-way-where-is-cloning-now/.

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