Cloning
What is cloning and how can it affect today's society?
Introduction to Cloning
Two Types of Cloning
There are two types of cloning. Reproductive and Therapeutic cloning.
Reproductive Cloning: In Reproductive cloning, the newly created embryo is placed back into the mother's womb.
Therapeutic Cloning: In Therapeutic cloning, the newly created embryo is not placed back inside the mother's womb.
Scientific Background of Cloning
More Scientific Background
Definitions to Timeline
Megan and Morag: Megan and Morag are two domestic sheep that were the first cloned mammals from different cells.
Transgenic: A transgenic animal is an animal that has cells from one animal and genetics from another animal. (These animals can be in different species)
Sequential: Something that is sequential is something that happens in a certain order or sequence.
Null: Something that is null is worth nothing or has no value.
Benifits of Cloning
Cloning has many benifits. There are five examples that are most common as a defender for cloning.
- Cloning can be used to reproduce the most desirable plants and animals
- Cloning can be used to revive endangered species or to bring back extinct species
- Cloning can be used to make an exact copy of a loved pet that has passed away
- Cloned products are impossible to tell apart from original products
- Cloning can be used to reproduce the rare or special ingredients for drug reproduction that has a limited amount of that certain drug
Dangers of Cloning
- There is a very high failure rate
- It is very expensive
- Cloning is unnatural (not including twins and above) so the cloned animal could have health conditions early in the life of the clone when it develops
- There is a chance of "abnormal gene expression problems"
which is when the cloned plant or animal may not express the same genes at the same time as the original plant or animal even though it has to same DNA and looks
- If the cloned plant or animal breed with other naturally breed animals it could affect that species
Examples of Cloning
Even though cloning is very difficult and complicated, we have cloned animals before. Here are five examples of cloning animals.
- In 1979 researchers cloned a mouse
- Years after the cloned mouse, cows, sheep and chickens were cloned
- In 1997 a Scottish scientist was the first to ever clone a sheep from an adult sheep
- In 1998 a scientist in Japan cloned 6 calves from a cow but only 4 survived
- Other cloned animals include cats, deer, dogs, horses, mules, ox, rabbits and rats. Even monkeys have been cloned
Dolly
Megan and Morag
Cows cloned in Japan
Answer to EQ
Question: What is cloning and how can it affect today's society?
Answer: Cloning is creating an exact copy of a plant or animal with the same exact DNA as the animal or plant that was used as a base for cloning. Cloning can affect today’s society in many ways. It can either help us or hurt us. It can help us by advancing our technology and helping our country save money for things like replicating desirable crops or animal breeds. It can hurt us by spending too much money because cloning is expensive and has many chances of failure. It can also be a problem because research shows that most cloned animals have problems in their development stages. These are only a few of the examples for cloning but the answer can go either way. Although after researching I believe that cloning is not as good as some people may think. There are defiantly more downs than ups so I think cloning is not okay even though it can benefit our country in certain ways.
Citations for Project
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"Cloning." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.
Dolly - How Cloning Works. Science.howstuffworks.com, 26 Mar. 2001. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.
Genome.gov. "Cloning Fact Sheet." Cloning Fact Sheet. National Human Genome Research Institute, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
"Learn Genetics." Learn Genetics. University of Utah, 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
The National Academy of Sciences. Digital image. Cloning. Www.nebcathcon.org, Jan. 2002. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.
Nature Biotechnology. Digital image. Dolly for Dinner? Assessing Commercial and Regulatory Trends in Cloned Livestock. Www.nature.com, 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
New York State. "NYSTEM." What Is the Difference between Reproductive and Therapeutic Cloning? New York State Stem Cell Science, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
San Diego Hyponics and Organics. Digital image. Beginner's Guide to Cloning Plants. Sdhydroponics.com, 8 May 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Science Channel. "Human Clones | Through the Wormhole." YouTube. YouTube, 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
Shepherd's Notebook. Digital image. Do You Remember Dolly. Mdsheepgoat.blogspot.com, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.