Human Cloning

HUMAN CLONING

By

Carlos E. Matus / 馬卡力

The issue of cloning is nothing new; it has been around for the past 100 years. The issue now is of cloning in the biotechnological kind rather than natural. Early in 1885, scientist first discovered cloning through sea urchins that did not reproduce but produce replicas of them. From this, curiosity of how and why developed. Scientists began the study of cells and in 1928 discovered that the Nucleus was, as they would put it, in charge. Through this knowledge it was then discovered that if the nucleus of a cell was to be copied or cloned then DNA fragments and organisms can be identically copied as well.

The term clone was derived from a Greek work that meant “twig”, referring to the process of creating a new plant from a twig. This is the ideology behind cloning, using one fragment of DNA fragments, cells or organism to create an exact replica of it. Scientifically speaking there are three forms of cloning; molecular, cellular and organism. Molecular cloning is the process of isolating a defined DNA sequence and duplicating it creating multiple copies of it. In cellular cloning a populations of cells from a single cell are derived and copied. While in organism cloning refers to the process of creating a multicellular organism genetically identical to another, this process is very common in horticulture and reproductive cloning where plants and animals are cloned through somatic cell transfer.

Although there is no harm in wondering and researching about cloning since “Dolly” the cloned sheep, scientists are aiming higher. Dolly was a breakthrough in science but also was the cause of growing concerns around the world due to its scientific and ethical implications. The thought of being able to clone a human being is ethically disturbing due to the fact that it is a creating another human being that may be genetically superior than the original and the rights of these “clones” are unknown. Will these clones be considered as a normal human being or will they be considered inferior or superior than us? If cloning becomes legal, the possibilities are endless, maybe we are looking at a future where a person can live through his/her clones so there is no need of reproduction. Maybe in the future if cloning becomes common and inexpensive, there will be no future generations but a one generation that is repeated for years. Instead of new individuals entering our world, we have the same people with the same ideals and imagine if someone in power kept cloning himself. There are many possibilities that may occur but what is known for sure is that cloning can cause serious implication on future generations.

Biologically speaking, cloning may enable us to clone organs for transplant patients by the use of therapeutic cloning. In this process, DNA would be taken from the person in need of the transplant and transferred into an enucleated egg. When the egg containing the donor’s DNA starts to divide, embryonic stem cells that can transform into any type of tissue would be harvested. The stem cells then would be used to create an organ or tissue that is a genetically identical to the recipient. This cloned organ, in theory, will be transplanted into the patient without the risk of tissue rejection. Although this is only in theory, if organs can be cloned then this means that the need of transplant donors will reduce incredibly.

As all theories go there are many challenges facing organs clones. Harvesting stem cells, cloning human embryos and producing organs from stem cells have to be developed and mastered. 2001 was the supposed year that a biotechnical company successfully cloned human embryos but the only one to survive stopped developing after six cells. This inefficient process is extremely expensive due to the fact that it takes about 100 nuclei transfers for one to develop and even then continuous development is not guaranteed.

In the religious point of view cloning is not accepted. Many religious followers think that the aspect of creating another life is deeming ourselves God. The idea that we have the ability to create a life or continue a life or to save one goes against the idea that there is a higher power controlling our fates or that our fate was already laid out. Many Christians believe that God has a plan for everyone, if a person was intended to have a diseased organ then let it be, if a person was meant to die let it be. But as for many Christians, any idea that is not written in the Bible is automatically deemed wrong. We may never know whether it is good or not till the day we are able to see its effects and until then we will have to wait and see.

Worldwide we know that there are some disadvantages in human cloning, the first one is Health risks from mutation of genes, being this technique extremely risky now days. As we still do not know yet why Dolly the sheep died at 7 years old, the age that the donor was when they did the cloning process. The second one is Emotional risks for the clone, how would she/he feel knowing that is a clone, maybe the exact copy is a relative of him/her, where would marriage go? A husband might fell in love again with a new clone of her wife but this time many years younger. And the third one is the Risk of abuse of technology, which means as an example, a person with bad intentions and with a lot of power in a rich country where cloning humans is possible and he wants several clones of himself, lets just say Hitler in his time, would have those clones been as bad ad he was, and how about if they disagree in certain things since their familiar environment would have been different.

For me, human cloning should not be allowed in any part, it seems to be a game against the natural laws, we might just get in big troubles in life later on time, as how is happening now with global warming, something that which is not so hard to help in avoiding it, but humans can really be the most dangerous animal on earth.