On July 5, 1996, the most famous sheep in modern history was born. Ian Wilmut and a group of Scottish scientists announced that they had successfully cloned a sheep named Dolly.
If you stood Dolly beside a "naturally" conceived sheep, you wouldn't notice any differences between the two. In fact, to pinpoint the only major distinguishing factor between the two, you'd have to go back to the time of conception because Dolly's embryo developed without the presence of sperm. Instead, Dolly began as a cell from another sheep that was fused via electricity with a donor egg. Just one sheep -- no hanky-panky involved.
While Dolly's birth marked an incredible scientific breakthrough, it also set off questions in the scientific and global community about what -- or who -- might be next to be "duplicated." Cloning sheep and other nonhuman animals seemed more ethically benign to some than potentially cloning people. In response to such concerns in the United States, President Clinton signed a five-year moratorium on federal funding for human cloning the same year of Dolly's arrival [source:Lamb].
Today, after more than a decade since Dolly, human cloning remains in its infancy. Although cloning technology has improved, the process still has a slim success rate of 1 to 4 percent [source: Burton]. That being said, science is headed in that direction -- pending governmental restraints.
Scientists have cloned a variety of animals, including mice, sheep, pigs, cows and dogs. In 2006, scientists cloned the first primate embryos of a rhesus monkey. Then, in early 2008, the FDA officially deemed milk and meat products from cloned animals and their offspring safe to eat.
But what would human cloning involve, and how could you take sperm out of the reproductive equation?
Dolly The Sheep Cloning Process
A good article! I saw a biology episode concerning cloning, and I found it intriguing how Dolly was cloned. Still, I would find that it would be a little queer if other people were cloned. What's your opinion?
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned, I feel like cloning people isn't the biggest concern right now. Yes, if at some time, the process is efficient enough to produce a mass labor force (which isn't necessarily a good thing), then it may be worth it, but as it stands, the process takes great amounts of time, money, and effort. This doesn't seem like something that needs to be prioritized in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHaving two of the exact same organism, but one of them being made by electronically fusing a cell with a donor egg almost disrupts the natural reproduction cycle. However, cloned animals who can produce safe products like milk and meat could be beneficial from an economic standpoint. Also, cloning animals could potentially save endangered species populations. But figuring out a way to clone people isn't really a necessity, as there wouldn't be much of a use for them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure how much good cloning (although it sounds cool) would be. Besides the lack of being special for being an identical twin, this could be used in events such as kidnapping or an abduction and replacing them with a model/replica of themselves, although this is stretching it a little. On the other hand, I agree with Victoria that this could help save endangered species and could be quite useful.
ReplyDeleteI feel like there would be a great deal of controversy surrounding human cloning since you must take into account the ethics of the process and outcome. Could this potentially lead to all people becoming mere carbon copies of other people? Interesting article!
ReplyDeleteWhen considering the ethnics, there are many experiments (not just cloning) that people consider unethical. For example, many people try to abolish the use of lab animals for cosmetic testings. In my opinion, cloning would be an interesting concept but could bring up issues such as identity theft, or being involved in things that were never related to you in the first place. I believe we should hold off on human cloning and focus on perfecting the process first, if at all.
ReplyDeleteGreat article! I think cloning a sheep, and cloning a human are very different, and as you said, has some ethical issues, but I think it is a major step forward that scientist are learning to clone animals. I wonder what research people are doing to further this advancement.
ReplyDeleteGreat article! I think cloning a sheep, and cloning a human are very different, and as you said, has some ethical issues, but I think it is a major step forward that scientist are learning to clone animals. I wonder what research people are doing to further this advancement.
ReplyDelete