Essay/Term paper: Cloning

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Science

Cloning


A few years ago if you were to ask someone about the possibilities of
cloning they would most likely say it was impossible. This attitude towards
cloning has been held into belief up until recently when scientists in Scotland
cloned a sheep. And immediately after scientists in Oregon cloned a monkey
(Fackelmann 276). The most major breakthroughs of the century in science has
occurred and we are not ready for it. The scientific breakthrough of cloning has
caused a great deal of controversy in the media and also in the government. The
advantages of cloning are tremendous to the human race and cannot be ignored.
I believe that cloning humans is what the human race needs to advance.
Humans would be stronger, smarter, and more perfect. Scientists could remove bad
genes from the parents and replace it with a good one. If one of the parents had
a bad gene or hereditary disease this could be removed from the embryo and
replaced with another "clean" gene. This process is called embryo screening it
is used to determine if the child has received the defective gene. Several
embryos could be cloned, then the DNA from one of the embryos would then be
removed and standard genetic testing would be used to detect whether or not that
embryo contained the genetic disease. If this cloned embryo containd a disease
then one of the other embryos could be used for implantation in a parent, this
guarantees that the child would be free of genetic disease (Marshall 1025). For
those who disagree with cloning I am sure if there child could be saved from a
genetic disease they would reconsider cloning.
Imagine if one of your friends or family members was in need of a liver
or kidney. Most likely you would donate your own liver or kidney to save there
life. But then you are one organ short. Well this happens a lot and seems to
work fine. But if they needed a new heart you might have trouble finding one.
Not if you had a clone of yourself that could supply you with a new organ or
maybe even a relatives organ that was naturally stronger (Cloning 1117). Someone
could replace their old organs with new ones and extend their life span.
Thousands of lives that could be saved if we had the technology and advanced
science of cloning available. Even accepting an organ from a relative it may
fail, it has to be compatible with our body system , if its your clone, then its
a perfect match.
Cancer is one of the largest killers and also one of the largest dilemmas
scientists face today. Well, cancer research is possibly the most important
reason for embryo cloning. Oncologists (People who study Cancer) believe that
embryonic study will advance understanding of the rapid cell growth of cancer.
Cancer cells develop at approximately the same great speed as embryonic cells do.
By studying the embryonic cell growth, scientists may be able to determine how
to stop it, and also stop cancer growth in turn (Watson 66).
Whenever there is a draft for a war people protest hide and even leave the
country why should people be sent to fight for something they don"t believe in
or even in my case a country they don"t want to die for. We cannot dispense
human lives as if they were candy. If we produced smart, strong and loyal clones,
we could have the perfect soldier. There would no longer be humans in the
military, there would be no worries about losing lives or family members. Clones
made specifically with a sole mission to die for there country these perfect
soldiers would make up a perfect army.
Well, in the case of a lost relative, more specifically parents losing
their child. Parents could clone a child who had died, as a homage of love. The
saying "there is nothing that you can do to bring him/her back" would now be
obsolete with the process of cloning. Of course parents could never have their
child back exactly as he/she were but they could definitely start over again. Or
parents could simply clone the traits of a famous person or favorable traits of
someone else and put them in their child"s embryo. Maybe even if they wanted
twins or even sextuplets. Parents would be able to make more decisions on their
child or children"s traits.
The benefits of cloning do not stop at humans it extends out to animals.
A lot of controversy is brought about when animals are used for laboratory
testing. We should clone animals specifically for laboratory tests, these
animals would not be depleting any populations nor would they be taken away from
their habitats destroying any food chains.
Also farmers would benefit from cloning their select animals. This would
also give the consumer better meat quality and lower the price of meat.
Governments in countries where famine is present could master cloning techniques
and provide for the starving populations in their country. One of the most
beneficial effects of cloning animals is that species of animals whose
populations are almost extinct could be replenished by cloning. Animals such as
the Blue whale, the condor, and the Norfolk whale. These are only three examples
of endangered species, there are practically hundreds of endangered species that
could be saved with the process of cloning. We wouldn"t be bothered by activists
or any more "save the whales" foundations asking for you to donate money. If the
amount of animals produced were controlled according to the food chains and
habitats, these species could thrive once again.
We could grow plants that would be immune to bugs or pesticides. Farmers
would have crop that would survive the winter and frost. We could eliminate the
loss of crops that forces the prices to go up in the supermarkets. Crops that
require less water or can grow in certain types of soil. This would be could for
California where water is scarce.
This is only the begging of the benefits we can achieve from cloning.
Creating a stronger and more advanced human race. Diseases would become weeded
and cleaned out of humans" genetic makeup. Of course there is a chance of this
getting in the hands of a madman or someone who would use it for ill purposes.
But we can not let this amazing discovery stopped by people that can only see
the bad side of cloning. They must also see the vast benefits of cloning, how it
can save lives and entire species from extinction. I believe that cloning is a
part of our evolution, our ancestors evolved by using their hands and minds, by
creating language and civilizations, this advanced them. Cloning is what will
advance our race more. Our bodies have stopped using and have disposed of
unnecessary organs and body features which have proved to be useless. Diseases
and deformities are useless and cloning can aid to the evolution of humans by
cleansing our bodies of such ill and in some cases deadly burdens. There are too
many advantages in cloning for us to ignore it.