Reproductive Cloning
Cloning 101
Reproductive cloning is the type of cloning that most people know about. It is when genetic material is taken from a living organism and then used to create a new organism. There are several ways to do this, but the most often used is nucleus transfer. One cell has its nucleus removed, and the nucleus is inserted into a female's egg. The egg developed into an exact copy of the person who gave the nucleus.
The Good In Cloning
Cloning can have many uses. For example, if a sexual species breaded and created an organism with favorable traits, cloning could copy this and create an improved group of organisms. If an organism died, it could possibly be brought back if scientists had the DNA and cells of the organism. And if scientists could find enough DNA from dead organisms, they could possibly revive extinct species.
The Dark Side
Cloning can be a harmful practice as well. Clones could use up recourses and erode away at our ecosystem. They would be as intelligent as what they were created from so they could fight back if used in science. If the clone was of something dangerous it could be hard to contain. Clones could topple our fragile ecosystem, if there were enough of them or a few highly invasive organisms. Clones could also cost a lot of recourses to create.
The Impact
Creating more clones (clones have been created in the past) would have a massive impact on the study of genetics. Clones would open the possibility to revive extinct species and create better forms of a species that have favorable traits. However, there are many questions of ethics that go along with cloning. For example, if we have clones, what stops us from taking their organs and using them for experiments, and is that inhumane? There are many problems that would occur if clones existed, to say the least.
Extra Information
- There has never been a successful human clone.
- The most well known cloning is Dolly the sheep. It took 277 attempts and there were 29 early embryos and 13 surrogate mothers.
- The E.U. regulates the selling of cloned animal's meat.