Group 5 Group Members: Beard Tierra [email protected] , Coon Payton, [email protected], Edgar Avery aedgar [email protected], Kistaitis Ashley [email protected], Mayse Alexis [email protected], Mentors: Mentor‐Helms Callie, [email protected] Mentor‐Sand Christine, [email protected] Cloning
By: Ashley Kistaitis, Tierra Beard, and Avery
Edgar
Cloning
Cloning is the duplication of parts and pieces of a living organism. What are the risks of cloning?
Can we test on both animals and humans? Are there different types of cloning?
The three main types of cloning are therapeutic cloning, DNA cloning, and reproductive cloning.
Cloning may be the answer to our environmental problems such as diseases, reproduction, and
improving lives.
DNA Cloning
Definition: DNA is an abbreviation for Deoxyribonucleic Acid, which is what genes are made of.
The easiest way of cloning is DNA cloning, where DNA segments are copied. The DNA is then
inserted into a bacterium. The bacterium then reproduces identical copies of the DNA sequence.
What are the Pros and Cons of cloning?
Pros: The cloning could help in the long run if there are no donors available they could clone a
person’s vital organ to give to someone else. It could help with producing children for mothers
who aren’t able to get pregnant on their own. It could help researchers better understand the
genetics of people. Which could help in preventing genetic diseases? It could produce genetics
for animals so we could replicate animals for research purposes.
Cons: It could mess with the diversity of mankind and it could make it harder for us to
adapt to the world around us. Cloning allows people to tamper with genes and also creates the
unfortunate chance that undesirable traits could be reproduced. This could invite malpractices in
society. With cloning comes a price: will it be cost-effective, will it really reach the common
man? These need to be considered. Will cloning put humans and animals in danger? Does it fit
into our moral and ethical principals? Will it put us and everything around us in jeopardy?
Therapeutic Cloning
Therapeutic Cloning is another word for “embryo cloning”. We often think of cloning only in
human or in animal terms, such as Dolly the first animal cloned. But Therapeutic Cloning
doesn’t clone the whole animal/human it clones the Embryonic Stem cells. Also many organs
may be cloned in this way such as the heart and liver.
Cloning takes place starting out with a human egg. Then you take DNA from the egg and
replace it with the DNA from the human being. The egg will then grow for 14 days, its stem cells
would then be expected to grow into a human tissue or an organ of which was asked to be made.
The ending result would not be a human being but an organ, tissue, or a quality of skin.
Therapeutic cloning was invented to treat those with threatening diseases. This cloning kills
cells, creating stronger and healthier cells. Diseases such as Parkinson’s, or Alzheimer’s would
be curable. If many hospitals used Therapeutic Cloning there would be fewer donors. There
would be no need for donors because Therapeutic cloning makes “perfect matches”.
Reproductive/Animal Cloning
To what extent would you go to get a lost family member or pet back? How much would you be
willing to pay? What if you’re lost one wasn’t exactly the same as before?
There are lots of points for and against animal cloning. It is use full for trying to clone extinct
animals, and you know exactly how you’re your clone is going to appear. It is better to clone
adults then children. 57.36% out of 3,963 people say that animal cloning shouldn’t be stopped,
34.57 % out of 3,963 say it should be stopped, and 8.07% say they don’t know. On the other
hand, people say animal cloning should be stopped because the animals sometimes are not born
right, or with birth defects. If they are born with birth defects, the defects sometimes kill the
animal later. Mostly the cloning process occurs in pregnancy, but it can happen afterwards too.
Scientists are trying to figure out how to clone extinct animals; you would know exactly how it
would turn out. They would be cloned by using genetic material from fossilized mosquitoes to
get blood, and from amphibians to try to bring back dinosaurs.
Dolly is a very famous cloned animal. She is a female domestic sheep, and was the first cloned
mammal. Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell cloned her near Edinburgh in Scotland. She was born
on July 5, 1996 and died at age 6. Dolly has been called “the world’s most famous sheep” by
sources including BBC News and Scientific American. Dolly was named after the Country
Western singer Dolly Parton.
What if a person suggested cloning themselves? Would you go that far to get them back?
Conclusion
So cloning is when you take a part of a living thing and make a human being, animal, tissue,
organ and/or a quality of skin. So now you know the problems of cloning, the advantages of it,
so would you go far enough to get a loved one, pet, organ or skin cloned?
References
"Animal Cloning." Buzzle. N.p., 24 Jan. 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com>.
"Clone Animals." aavs. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2010. <http://www.aavs.org>.
"Dolly {sheep}." Wikipedia. N.p., 4 Mar. 2003. Web. 24 Jan. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org>.
"Extinct Animals." Extinct Animal. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2010.
<http://www.extinctanimal.com>.
Cloning Conundrum. University of Wisconsin, 2002. Web. Jan. 2010.
<http://whyfiles.org/148clone_clash/4.html>.
Oak, Manall. "Pros and Cons of Cloning." Pros and Cons of Cloning. Buzzle, 26 Aug. 2008.
Web. 2 Jan. 2010. <www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-cloning.html>