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Cloning is Not What it Used to Be

 

     On Sunday, February 23, 1997, Scottish researchers broke one of nature's

greatest laws by cloning a lamb from a single cell of an adult ewe.  This

breakthrough opens the door to the possibility for the cloning of other mammals

including humans.

 

       This remarkable achievement is being looked at as a great advancement in

animal agriculture.  But this achievement could lead to ethical questions of

standard.

        Researchers lead by Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute in Midlothian,

Scotland, showed that a fully differentiated cell from the mammary tissue of an

ewe could be manipulated in such a way as to produce a genetically identical

copy of the animal that the DNA was acquired.

 

        Scientist long believed that once a cell became differentiated, that

most of its approximately 100,000 genes shut off.  Only a few genes remained

active to allow the cell to perform its specific function of life.  All efforts

to reactivate the shut-off genes have failed.  English researchers have came the

closest by teasing frog body cells to develop into tadpoles.  The tadpoles,

however, never matured into frogs.

 

        The Scottish researchers have failed many times with sheep cells before

their success, but the task was perfected and accomplished.  Now this

accomplishment has made it possible for the cloning of almost any mammal,

including humans.

 

        To the average person, exactly how the technique works is unclear.

Scientist predicted that by making cells dormant and bringing them close to

death, something happens to break the chemical locks (barriers) that keep most

of the genes inactive. The mammary cell is inserted into an unfertilized sheep

egg cell that has already had all of its own genetic material removed.  By

fusing the cells together tricks the egg into thinking that it has become

fertilized.

 

        After being fused together, researchers believe that the chemical

machinery inside the egg cell goes to work to reprogram the mammary cell genes

into starting over again, as if they were brought together as sperm and egg.

The cell divides, produces an embryo, fetus and a newborn that is identical to

the animal from which it was cloned.

 

        Although the United States government prohibits government funds being

spent on human cloning research, and ethicists decry it, nevertheless, human

cloning could be achieved, Neal First said.  First is a professor of animal

biotechnology and reproductive biology at the University of Wisconsin.

 

        Overall, there is no apparent reason to clone humans. A duplicate body

does not mean a duplicated mind. The clone's brain would be far different, for

the clone would have to learn everything from its own experiences.  Is cloning a

human ethical? Should we try to clone humans?

 

        I believe that nature will clone what it wants to clone.  Researchers

should be careful for we no nothing of the stability of any animal that is

cloned by scientist.  We don't know if that animal will be dominant over the

animal from which it was clone or if it will turn hostile.  From my point of

view having a "clone" is not all it is cracked up to be.