By Ella Kang
How would you feel about cloning yourself? Taking the nucleus of your cell, putting it into an egg, and then developing a baby who basically has the same genes as you… Although animal cloning has been researched and successful, it will most likely take a while for a human cloning to be carried out. The difficulties surrounding the techniques do not seem to be the problem, but rather, the questions of ethics and the lack of necessity to conduct them.
What is cloning in general?
Cloning simply means creating an artificial, identical copy of a biological material such as a cell or an organism. It should be noted, however, that cloning does occur in nature because some plants and single-celled organisms like bacteria can duplicate themselves through asexual reproduction. Additionally, clones with the same genetic material do not necessarily look identical because the environment is a key factor that shapes how an organism turns out. Since the first ever cloning experiment was performed by Hans Spemann on a salamander egg in 1903, various advancements have been made in cloning history. The first mammal Dolly the Sheep was cloned in 1996 from an adult somatic cell, and other mammals that have been cloned the same way; cat, deer, dog, horse, mule, ox, rabbit, and rat are some examples. In recent times, the DNA of somatic cells has had significant impacts on advanced scientific research and therapies.
How does human cloning work?
Human cloning makes use of a specific genetic part (DNA) of an organism and then recreating it. 2 major types of cloning include the Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) and the Induced Pluripotent Stems Cells (iPSC). SCNT transfers the DNA of somatic cells, whether a skin, bone, or blood cell, to an egg cell without its nucleus through injection or electric currents. iPSC however, reprograms back the skins or blood cells into an embryonic pluripotent state, meaning at its most basic and flexible state to be developed into other types of cells.
Where and why is human cloning used?
The cloning techniques enable us to broaden their understanding of how life works. With a close observation of human pluripotent stem cells grown in culture, scientists can define specific early human development steps; the early human embryo provides an opportunity to know more about the diseases and defects. Moreover, therapeutic cloning allows the growth of stem cells that are genetically identical to a patient; this way, there is a significantly less risk of rejection by the immune system. Those stem cells could then become the basis for customized human repair kits! Research into the diseases and causes, growing replacement organs such as heart, livers, and skin, producing new neurons to cure Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Rett syndrome, and treating diabetes, as well as spinal cord injuries are a few examples of potential therapeutic uses, currently being researched.
What are the controversies / issues surrounding human cloning?
Cloning is a carefully controlled technique that is widely acknowledged and used in labs today. Nonetheless, the human cloning raises crucial ethical questions, conflicting with religious and social values about human dignity, individual freedome, identity, and autonomy. Some also argue that the therapeutic cloning that can treat numerous diseases is wrongful because the process involves collecting embryonic stem cells. Furthermore, because the line of germ cells that produce ova or sperm are not affected by the cloning, the defeats would still get passed down to the future generations. This also means that there will be more diseases to cure in the future. Additionally, the harmful genetic mutations are removed naturally from the population, but with medicine, these mutations will stay in the gene pool and affect others. Some still believe that the benefits of cloning are massive, curing diverse diseases and fulfilling the couples’ dream of parenthood.
Works Cited
Abby Tang, Michelle Yan Huang. “Why We Still Haven't Cloned Humans - It's Not Just Ethics.” Business Insider, 7 July 2020, www.businessinsider.com/ethics-of-human-cloning-scientific-progress-2020-7.
Ayala, Francisco J. “Cloning Humans? Biological, Ethical, and Social Considerations.” PNAS, National Academy of Sciences, 21 July 2015, www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8879.
Bonsor, Kevin, and Cristen Conger. “How Human Cloning Will Work.” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 27 Jan. 2020, science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/human-cloning.htm.
Burgess, Matt. “Where Are the Human Clones? 20 Years since Dolly Was Unveiled We Look at the Future of Cloning.” WIRED UK, 8 Mar. 2017, www.wired.co.uk/article/human-cloning-technology-dolly-sheep.
“Cloning Fact Sheet.” Genome.gov, www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Cloning-Fact-Sheet.
“Cloning Fast Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 21 Feb. 2021, www.cnn.com/2013/10/30/health/cloning-fast-facts.
Rugnetta, Michael. "Cloning". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Apr. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/science/cloning.
Svendsen, Clive N. “Back to the future: how human induced pluripotent stem cells will transform regenerative medicine.” Human molecular genetics vol. 22,R1 (2013): R32-8. doi:10.1093/hmg/ddt379
Zhu, Zengrong, and Danwei Huangfu. “Human pluripotent stem cells: an emerging model in developmental biology.” Development (Cambridge, England) vol. 140,4 (2013): 705-17. doi:10.1242/dev.086165
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