Cloning--Our Next Generation essays

CloningOur Next Generation essays Some people believe that biologists are cloning human embryos only to see how far they can go, but in actuality, there are many legitimate reasons for investing cloning. Embryologists believe that research into cloning could help improve the life of future generations. I believe this is the main concern of most scientists. The idea that humans may one day be cloned created either in part or whole to be genetically identical to the original plant or animal from a single somatic cell without sexual reproductionbecame a more realistic dream on February 23, 1997. On that date, the news broke that Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Insitute were about to announce the successful cloning of a sheep by a new technique. This technique had never before been successful on mammals. It was called somatic cell nuclear transfer. The technique involved transplanting the genetic material of an adult sheep into an egg from which the nucleus had been removed. The resulting birth of the sheep, named Dolly, was born on July 5, 1996. However, Dolly was different from prior attempts to create identical offspring. Dolly only contained the genetic material of one parent and was, therefore, a delayed genetic twin of a single adult sheep. There are two very different procedures referred to as cloning. The first is embryo cloning. This involves the removal of one or more cells from an embryo and encouraging the cell to develop into a separate embryo with the same DNA as the original. This has been successful on many species of animals. Some limited experimentation has been done on human embryos. Yet, nature remains the true cloning agent. About 1 in every 75 human conceptions, results in a split ovum for an unknown, reason to produce monozygotic twins or triplets. The second procedure is Adult DNA cloning or cell nuclear replacement. This involves removing the DNA from an embryo and replacing it with the DNA of a cell that has been rem...