Review on Cloning

Cloning is the process of creating genetically identical individuals which include both natural (e.g. bacteria via asexual reproduction or identical twins) and artificial forms

Potential applications in medicine and agriculture

Great Britain is the only country that cloning can be done, but only for medical purposes. All other countries ban the practice of human cloning. The company CLONAID, claims to have successfully cloned humans. The first mammal to ever be successfully cloned was Dolly the sheep in 1996. Human cloning is seen in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World.

Benefits to Cloning

Cloning stem cells:

• Some researchers are looking at cloning as a way to create stem cells that are genetically identical to an individual. These cells could then be used for medical purposes, possibly even for growing whole organs, prevents tissue rejection.
• Stem cells cloned from someone with a disease could be grown in culture and studied to help researchers understand the disease and develop treatments.
• In 2013, scientists at Oregon Health and Science University were the first to use cloning techniques to successfully create human embryonic stem cells. The donor DNA came from an 8-month-old with a rare genetic disease.

Couples who are not able to naturally conceive can clone themselves to have a biological child:

• Opens the possibility for gay or lesbian couples to have a child that contains both parents’ genes;
• Avoid passing on a deleterious gene that runs in the family;

Prevents extinction of species: Several wild species have been cloned already, including two relatives of cattle called the guar and the banteng, mouflon sheep, deer, bison, and coyotes. However, some experts are skeptical that cloning can help a species recover. One big challenge endangered species face is the loss of genetic diversity, and cloning does nothing to address this problem. When a species has high genetic diversity, there is a better chance that some individuals would have genetic variations that could help them survive an environmental challenge such as an infectious disease

Implications of Cloning

The prospect of cloning humans is highly controversial, and it raises a number of ethical, legal, and social challenges that need to be considered.

Reproductive cloning—cloning for the purpose of making a human baby—is largely seen as immoral by scientists and lawmakers. Supporters see it as a possible solution to infertility problems. Some even imagine making clones of geniuses, whose work could advance society. Far-fetched views describe farms filled with clones whose organs are harvested for transplantation—a truly horrific idea. (As seen in the 2005 Science Fiction film The Island by Michael Bay)

For now, risks and technical challenges—as well as laws that make it illegal—will probably keep human reproductive cloning from becoming a reality. Even though many species have been cloned successfully, the process is still technically difficult and inefficient. The success rate in cloning is quite low: most embryos fail to develop, and many pregnancies end in miscarriage.

Cell mutation is a very real possibility with genetic cloning. This may result in new and more aggressive genetic disease to begin within the human race, creating a lot of problems. Many people believe that an event like this will be the demise of civilization.

Cloned humans likely to be viewed as lesser citizens. This might bring about an entirely new breed of racism and prejudice to the world that could cause devastating social divides.

Technologies such as human cloning have in particular raised our awareness of the profound ethical and moral issues we face. If, for example, we were to re-engineer ourselves into several separate and unequal species using the power of genetic engineering, then we would threaten the notion of equality that is the very cornerstone of our democracy.