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Cloning

Imagine what it would be like to have an exact copy of yourself. You would look, think, and be exactly the same. Cloning is a very delicate subcategory of genetic engineering that has been accomplished and could become a reality for future occupants of earth. During my research, I was looking for whether experiments with cloning were successful or not, the advantages that cloning could bring as well as the disadvantages, and how cloning ties into genetic engineering. With these figured out, it will bring me closer to a conclusion of whether or not genetic engineering is worth pursuing as well as acceptable by society.

While looking through article after article to find the most recent experiments with cloning, I found a lot of them to be talking about how many people who worked in top secret government agencies claim that human cloning has been going on for years and there are already human clones walking the streets today. I can’t find any viable evidence to support if this is true, however if their claims are correct, something needs to be done fast because from what i've learned, the world isn't ready for cloning just yet.

This could potentially grow new hearts or lungs that patients need to live. Infertility is a big problem in many adults. With human cloning you can produce a baby with the same DNA as you which would solve the problem of infertility. Another thing stated in Chang’s article was, “Using cloned human bodies instead of animals for experiments can help researchers and scientists find cures for health conditions and disease more effectively” (Chang). This possible benefit is one i’m a little bit edgy on, because he’s pretty much saying these clones will be used as test subjects which is completely unethical. Once a person is cloned and bored, they are an actual person and a US citizen. What gives us the right to take take away their rights, use them as experiments, and keep them in captivity? Exactly, we have no right to do such a thing.

Unfortunately, unlike genetic engineering which had many benefits to outweigh the negatives, cloning doesn’t look too pretty when you compare the pros and cons. To start, if the equipment to do cloning were to get into the wrong hands, criminals could use human cloning to make money by using cloned humans as slaves, organ donors, or even make them commit crimes for them. On top of that, PL Chang also points out, “The technology used for cloning is still in its early stage of development and therefore it could cause a lot of problems. For example, during the process of cloning Dolly, the famous cloned sheep, nearly 300 of her eggs were used and only 9 of them successfully induced pregnancy. Out of these 9 eggs only one sole cloned sheep was successfully born” (Chang). This shows how much advancing needs to be done before taking cloning to the next level. Of course one of the biggest problems that comes from cloning is ethics. Obviously if cloning were to advance and be used more often, that would bring worry’s that it simply isn’t right and could bring many consequences to the human race. It’d be argued that cloning could bring up selective procreation, which is when only babies with a certain genetic makeup would be created (much like the big argument of whether or not genetic engineering is ethical). This is only some of the many negative things that can come from the use of cloning.Taking a look at cloning really showed me a bad side to genetic engineering. I’m not opposed to the cloning of human embryos, but I am opposed to cloning of humans. It is unethical and not worth the risk. With this new knowledge I am now curious as to what kind of other experiments are using genetic engineering and what possibilities they bring.

I did find evidence that human embryos are currently being cloned today. Current scientists clone human embryos is mass quantities and use them to produce stem cells for research. This is great news to me, because if you don't know, stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can turn into any other type of cell. whether it be a brain cell, heart cell, or a simple skin cell, a stem cell can turn into any of them. These are so important because they hold the key to curing many types of diseases and unlocking more scientific breakthroughs.

You may possibly remember Dolly, who was the first cloned sheep to be cloned from a somatic cell (a somatic cell is any cell in the body that isn’t a sperm or egg cell). This was a huge advancement for cloning because it expanded the ways to achieve cloning. Cloning, just like genetic engineering, can offer many benefits to mankind. According to the author of “Human Cloning Ethics”, PL Chang, “Some doctors and scientists believe that human cloning can benefit people who have organ problems. For instance, genetic manipulation could help regrow damaged cells that could be used to treat a multitude of illnesses and injuries. They could even theoretically grow a new organ to replacement a damaged organ” (Chang). This shows just a glimpse of what you can do or grow with cloning.