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What are the ethical and moral issues that this technology presents? : EG

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What are the ethical and moral issues that this technology presents? : EG

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Some ethical issues that might a cure are for one the cloned specimen. Will that specimen have a normal life or be treated like an animal for experiments. Some other problems is that it might go against religion, many failures in life, bring illegal cloning, and can change an individual into something they are not.

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The Legal and Ethical Issues of Cloning That Make it Controversial

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Ever since the advent of cloning, there have been arguments for and against this process. A fundamental argument is that cloning is ethically wrong and various religious groups have rejected it saying that cloning is equivalent to 'playing God'. Here is a discussion about the ethical issues that have arisen concerned with cloning humans.

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Technology is getting closer to developing techniques to recreate old species that use to exist.  Using SCNT we can develop species without sperm.

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Robert writes eclectic and informative articles about weird historical incidents and speculative science.

It may now be possible to bring back extinct species by cloning dead specimens, and growing them in the wombs of similar or related animals.

Not long ago, the idea of cloning extinct animals sounded like science fiction. Films like Jurassic Park, made it seem plausible, but science was far behind the special effects, and the only rebuilt Dinosaur species existed on the movie screen. But now advances in cloning technology promise to turn science fiction into reality and make it possible to clone extinct animals such as mammoths or even, one day, dinosaurs.

To understand how cloning might be used to restore dead animals and even bring back extinct species it is important to understand how cloning works, and what it can and cannot do.

Cloning is the process of creating an identical copy of an oragnism or part of an organism. There are many different types of cloning and cloning techniques. Of interest here is the method called reproductive cloning which uses "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (SCNT) to create animals that are genetically identical. In this process, genetic material (namely the nucleus of a cell) from the animal that is being copied is transferred into an egg of a female mammal.

The egg is not fertilized in the normal way, in that no spermatazoa enter the egg. However, the egg begins to divide as if it had been fertilized, and reproduces the DNA of the copied animal. The egg is then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother and grows into a fetus and eventually an identical baby copy of the original animal.

This method of cloning has some similarities to in vitro fertilization used to make "test tube" babies in that the fertilization of the egg takes place in a lab. The egg is implanted with the genetic material using state of the art tools. However, it is much more complex and difficult that the normal in vitro fertilization because instead of using sperm to fertilize an egg, the genetic material of the donor animal must be extracted intact from its cells and then implanted into the egg.

There have also been attempts to clone a Tasmanian Tiger, which has been extinct for 65 years, but it was found that the DNA from the stuffed museum specimens that still exist had degraded too badly to create a viable fetus.

Now, scientists are taking steps to collect and preserve tissue from endangered animals in order to attempt clone them in the future, once the technology improves. When the last Pyrenan Ibex died, tissue samples were frozen immediately in the hopes of recreating the species at a later date.

A number of so-called frozen zoos now store genetic material from endangered species. The zoos are cryogenic facilities in which tissue, eggs, and sperm from threatened species are stored for later cloning or use in reproduction programs using artificial insemination. Two of the main facilities are the Frozen Zoo at the San Diego Zoo and the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species. Both of these gene banks may one day furnish the DNA needed to bring species back from oblivion.
Cloning Dinosaurs and Extinct Animals.
What do you think? Should we tamper with Mother Nature? What are some of the risks and benefist of re-introducing species that have not been part of the environment for thousands or even millions of years?

Could cloning extinct species bring back unwanted diseases or parasites that might threaten the existence of modern species?

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Cloning Extinct Animals - Can Extinct Species be Brought Back to Life Using Cloning

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Robert writes eclectic and informative articles about weird historical incidents and speculative science. It may now be possible to bring back extinct species by cloning dead specimens, and growing them in the wombs of similar or related animals. Not long ago, the idea of cloning extinct animals sounded like science fiction.

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Scientists have cloned variety of animals, but the embryo has failed to develop properly or survive for a short period of time. Cloned animals often have malformations of various organs and body parts, which that later leads to a disease.

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Roxanne Maas

Based in Los Angeles, Roxanne Maas holds a master's degree in genetic counseling with more than 12 years of experience communicating complex genetics and pregnancy information. She has published several abstracts in scientific journals, presented posters at national genetics meetings, and published health-related articles on LIVESTRONG.com.

Cloning refers to various techniques of copying genetic information. Reproductive cloning, the most controversial type of cloning, creates copies of whole organisms. While the process of cloning results in two organisms that are genetically identical, the clone faces risks that the original organism does not. Although the technologies that enable cloning continue to improve, most clones as of 2010 do not survive or develop properly for a variety of reasons.

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Most cases of cloning to date -- September 2010 -- have proven unsuccessful. Scientists have attempted to clone a variety of animals, and in almost all cases, the embryo has failed to develop properly or survive for more than a short period of time. The Genetic Science Learning Center estimates that the success rate of cloning ranges from only 0.1 percent to 3 percent. A cloned embryo, for example, faces the same challenges as a natural pregnancy plus others that are particular to cloning.

In the process of cloning, a scientist removes the nucleus of the egg, which is the part that contains the genetic information, and replaces it with the nucleus of another cell. In some cases, the two cells involved are not incompatible and the cell cannot survive. In addition, like some transplant patients whose bodies reject the transplanted organ, an egg with a transplanted nucleus may reject the new nucleus by failing to grow and divide. Cloned embryos that survive the initial hours still may fail to implant into the surrogate's uterus. Finally, an established pregnancy can still, at any time and for a variety of reasons, cease growing and result in a miscarriage.

Cloned embryos that survive pregnancy can be born with a variety of birth defects and other health problems. According to the FDA, one phenomenon seen in cloning is that cloned animals tend to be larger than normal at birth, with unusually large organs. Enlarged organs often function improperly, causing problems with circulation, breathing and other bodily functions, sometimes leading to early death. Cloned animals often have malformations of various organs and body parts. In addition, their immune systems may fail to work properly, leading to later disease development.

Genetic material, or DNA, comes preprogrammed so that certain genes are "turned on," or expressed, at certain times while other genes are "turned off." Normal gene expression is integral to normal development of an organism; as cells start to differentiate into different types, such as skin cells, nerve cells and blood cells, genes need to turn on and off in a particular order. Cloned cells, however, may lack the programming necessary to tell genes when to turn on and off. The result may be disorganized cell growth or inappropriate cell functioning, both of which can lead an organism to die.

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Cloning refers to various techniques of copying genetic information. Reproductive cloning, the most controversial type of cloning, creates copies of whole organisms. While the process of cloning results in two organisms that are genetically identical, the clone faces risks that the original organism does not. Although the technologies that enable...

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What are the ethical issues of cloning animals and humans? Y.C

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What are the ethical issues of cloning animals and humans? Y.C

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The ethical issues raised by animal cloning projects, and half of the public is against cloning animals because they are religious and think that the word around us is god´s creation and the other half agree with it because they think it´s a good idea to find a cure for some diseases.

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The Ethical, Social & Legal Issues of Cloning Animals & Humans | Synonym

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Cloning has been around since 1952 when Robert Briggs and Thomas King externally fertilized and developed a leopard frog using somatic cell nuclear transfer. Though scientists had discussed the need for communication about the ethical ramifications of cloning since as early as 1972, it was not until the successful cloning of a sheep named Dolly in 1997 that cloning came to the forefront of scientific and societal discussion.

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Robert writes eclectic and informative articles about weird historical incidents and speculative science.

It may now be possible to bring back extinct species by cloning dead specimens, and growing them in the wombs of similar or related animals.

Not long ago, the idea of cloning extinct animals sounded like science fiction. Films like Jurassic Park, made it seem plausible, but science was far behind the special effects, and the only rebuilt Dinosaur species existed on the movie screen. But now advances in cloning technology promise to turn science fiction into reality and make it possible to clone extinct animals such as mammoths or even, one day, dinosaurs.

To understand how cloning might be used to restore dead animals and even bring back extinct species it is important to understand how cloning works, and what it can and cannot do.

Cloning is the process of creating an identical copy of an oragnism or part of an organism. There are many different types of cloning and cloning techniques. Of interest here is the method called reproductive cloning which uses "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (SCNT) to create animals that are genetically identical. In this process, genetic material (namely the nucleus of a cell) from the animal that is being copied is transferred into an egg of a female mammal.

The egg is not fertilized in the normal way, in that no spermatazoa enter the egg. However, the egg begins to divide as if it had been fertilized, and reproduces the DNA of the copied animal. The egg is then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother and grows into a fetus and eventually an identical baby copy of the original animal.

This method of cloning has some similarities to in vitro fertilization used to make "test tube" babies in that the fertilization of the egg takes place in a lab. The egg is implanted with the genetic material using state of the art tools. However, it is much more complex and difficult that the normal in vitro fertilization because instead of using sperm to fertilize an egg, the genetic material of the donor animal must be extracted intact from its cells and then implanted into the egg.

There have also been attempts to clone a Tasmanian Tiger, which has been extinct for 65 years, but it was found that the DNA from the stuffed museum specimens that still exist had degraded too badly to create a viable fetus.

Now, scientists are taking steps to collect and preserve tissue from endangered animals in order to attempt clone them in the future, once the technology improves. When the last Pyrenan Ibex died, tissue samples were frozen immediately in the hopes of recreating the species at a later date.

A number of so-called frozen zoos now store genetic material from endangered species. The zoos are cryogenic facilities in which tissue, eggs, and sperm from threatened species are stored for later cloning or use in reproduction programs using artificial insemination. Two of the main facilities are the Frozen Zoo at the San Diego Zoo and the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species. Both of these gene banks may one day furnish the DNA needed to bring species back from oblivion.
Cloning Dinosaurs and Extinct Animals.
What do you think? Should we tamper with Mother Nature? What are some of the risks and benefist of re-introducing species that have not been part of the environment for thousands or even millions of years?

Could cloning extinct species bring back unwanted diseases or parasites that might threaten the existence of modern species?

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Cloning Extinct Animals - Can Extinct Species be Brought Back to Life Using Cloning

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Robert writes eclectic and informative articles about weird historical incidents and speculative science. It may now be possible to bring back extinct species by cloning dead specimens, and growing them in the wombs of similar or related animals. Not long ago, the idea of cloning extinct animals sounded like science fiction.

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DNA and Gene Cloning

Reproductive Cloning

Therapeutic Cloning/Embryo Cloning

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From Dolly the sheep tp humans, cloning has been used to create embryonic stem cells with only two human eggs. Cloning has helped those who had suffer of heart attacks, Parkinson's disease and other conditions

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Lorraine Barnes suffered a heart attack in 2005 and has lived with the consequences - extreme exhaustion and breathlessness - ever since. "I was separated from my husband and so my children, Charlotte and James, had to grow up overnight because suddenly they were caring for me," she says.

Charlotte agrees: "It turns your world upside down. I worry about my mum day and night, 24/7."

Heart failure leaves Barnes, 49, "drowning and gasping for air", she says. What really preys on her mind, though, is not her present difficulty but her future. "It scares me, as obviously I want to be around to see my children grow up."

There is no cure for heart failure, the aftermath of a heart attack, and the condition is common. Every seven minutes a person has a heart attack in the UK, and some victims are left so weakened they can hardly walk a few metres.

It's a grim scenario. But the prospects for patients like Barnes last week took a dramatic turn for the better when it was revealed that human cloning has been used for the first time to create embryonic stem cells from which new tissue - genetically identical to a patient's own cells - could be grown.

Scientists have been working on such techniques (see box) for some time but their work has been hampered by the difficulties involved in cloning human cells in the laboratory. But the team led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, got around this problem. By adding caffeine to cell cultures, their outputs were transformed. "We were able to produce one embryonic stem cell line using just two human eggs, which would make this approach practical for widespread therapeutic use," said Mitalipov.

The development was hailed as a major boost for patients such as Barnes, who might benefit from tissue transplants - and not just heart attack patients but those suffering from diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other conditions.

But the announcement was also greeted with horror. "Scientists have finally delivered the baby that would-be human cloners have been waiting for: a method for reliably creating cloned human embryos," said David King of Human Genetics Alert. "It is imperative we create an international ban on human cloning before any more research like this takes place. It is irresponsible in the extreme to have published this."

Several tabloid newspapers also carried banner headlines warning of the human cloning "danger". Such reactions have a familiar ring. When the cloning of Dolly the Sheep was revealed in 1997 there was an outpouring of hysteria about the prospect of multiple Saddam Husseins being created in laboratories.

"At the time the chances of these horrors occurring - when scientists had not even created a single clone of a human cell - were remote," said physiologist Professor Colin Blakemore of Oxford University. "Not that this worried the alarmists. The crucial point is that we should have spent the intervening time thinking about how we should react sensibly to the concept of a human clone when it does become possible. We have not done that and, although the science is still far off, it is getting closer. We need to ask, carefully and calmly: under what circumstances would we tolerate the creation of a human clone?"

At present such a creation is banned in Britain. No human embryo created by cloning techniques is allowed to develop beyond 14 days. "The research is very tightly regulated and I think there is little chance of a rogue laboratory creating a human clone," said James Lawford Davies, a lawyer who specialises in health sciences. "However, many US states which, ironically, banned therapeutic cloning work because of their strong anti-abortion stances have laws that would permit human clones to develop into foetuses."

Experts such as Professor John Harris, director of Manchester University's Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, see positive benefits in reproductive cloning which could have a place in society. He said: "If you take a healthy adult's DNA and use it to create a new person - by cloning - you are essentially using a tried and tested genome, one that has worked well for several decades for the donor. By contrast, a child born naturally has an 8% chance of succumbing to a serious genetic abnormality because of the random selection of their DNA. You can avoid that with a clone."

In fact, most arguments against human cloning are foolish, said Harris, adding: "It could be used in medically helpful ways. If a couple find they are carriers of harmful, possibly fatal recessive genetic illnesses, there is a one in four chance they will produce a child who will die of that condition. That is a big risk. An alternative would be to clone one of the parents. If you did that, then you would know you were producing a child who would be unaffected by that illness in later life.

"Or consider the example of a single woman who wants a child. She prefers the idea of using all her own DNA to the idea of accepting 50% from a stranger. But because we ban human cloning she would be forced to accept DNA from a stranger and have to mother 'his child'. I think that is ethically questionable. Just after Dolly the Sheep was born, Unesco announced a ban on human cloning. I think that was a mistake."

This point was backed by Blakemore. He said: "Many people react with horror at the thought of a human clone, yet three out of every 1,000 babies born today are clones - in the form of identical twins. These twins share not just the same DNA but have grown up in the same uterus and have had the same parenting - features that only intensify their similarities. Society is quite happy about this situation, it appears, but seems to find it odd when talking about cloning."

However, a note of caution was sounded by Ian Wilmut, who led the team that created Dolly the Sheep. He said: "The new work may encourage some people to attempt human reproductive cloning but the general experience is that it still results in late foetal loss and the birth of abnormal offspring." It would be cruel to cause this in humans until techniques had been vastly improved, he added.

However, most scientists see Mitalipov's work as encouraging. If nothing else, the prospects for Lorraine Barnes - and countless other patients whose lives could be transformed by transplants - have greatly improved in the long term.

How it works

The nucleus is removed from a human egg cell and the nucleus from a skin cell is inserted.

An electric shock fuses the skin cell nucleus inside the egg and it begins to divide into new cells. An embryo starts to form.

After a few days the growth of the embryo is halted and cultures of its constituent stem cells created.

By treating stem cells with different chemicals they can be transformed into specialised cells such as those that make up heart muscle, brain, pancreas and other organs. These cells are genetically identical to the original skin cell and can be used to create tissue for transplanting into the skin cell's donor .
www.bhf.org.uk Topics

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Human cloning developments raise hopes for new treatments

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Lorraine Barnes suffered a heart attack in 2005 and has lived with the consequences - extreme exhaustion and breathlessness - ever since. "I was separated from my husband and so my children, Charlotte and James, had to grow up overnight because suddenly they were caring for me," she says.

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Cloning has been around for more the 100 years. Began in late 1800's and is currently still being researched. Cloning is being used to create new species

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Mice, cows, and goats
Multiple groups
After the successes leading up to Dolly and Polly, other scientists wanted to see if similar techniques could be used to clone other mammalian species. Before long, several more animals had been successfully cloned. Among them were transgenic animals, clones made from fetal and adult cells, and a male mouse; all previous clones had been female.

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Multiple groups After the successes leading up to Dolly and Polly, other scientists wanted to see if similar techniques could be used to clone other mammalian species. Before long, several more animals had been successfully cloned. Among them were transgenic animals, clones made from fetal and adult cells, and a male mouse; all previous clones had been female.

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What are the ethical and moral issues that this technology presents? :

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What are the ethical and moral issues that this technology presents? :

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Definition: The process of duplicating all genetic forms which can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological creature.

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The term cloning describes a number of different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. The copied material, which has the same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as a clone. Researchers have cloned a wide range of biological materials, including genes, cells, tissues and even entire organisms, such as a sheep.

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The term cloning describes a number of different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. The copied material, which has the same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as a clone.

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Repercussions or Dangers in Human Cloning: MB

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Repercussions or Dangers in Human Cloning: MB

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~Many embryos are created and then killed in the process, or die soon after birth
~When cloning is done, there is a potential that the age of the DNA is passed along with the cell, so potentially a 30 year old cell gene is being placed in a newborn's body.
~May have health issues, and abnormalities that result in death sooner

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Some folks consider human cloning as the biggest breakthrough of the century, while others consider it as a living nightmare. As such, human cloning means creating an identical human being with the aid of recent technology and genes of the donor. While the cloned individual will look like a carbon copy of the donor in terms of appearance, the personality of the two individuals could be world-apart from each other.

While outward appearance can be cloned, the personality of an individual cannot be cloned. After all, every person out there builds a unique personality for himself based on real life experiences and knowledge gained with growing age. It's believed that the potential dangers linked with human cloning outweigh the advantages associated with human cloning, which is why human cloning is banned in most countries out there. Let's have a look at the potential dangers of human cloning.
Medical Issues
Human cloning can give rise to certain medical issues. Technically, human gene grows older with age. It's feared that the cloned individual would retain the age of the donor's genes. Imagine what will happen if a 40 year old gene is manifested into a newborn baby.
Social Hiccups
There is a possibility that cloned individuals might not receive their due share of respect and acceptance in the society. It's believed that there will be unsettled opinions about the rights granted to a clone. Also, the real beauty of humanity lies in the differences we witness amongst each other. Cloning would kill the surprise element over here.
Health Concerns
The health risks involved with human cloning is something that cannot be sidelined on all accounts. There is a possibility that the cloned individual might carry certain abnormalities, and may die sooner than the standard life expectancy.
Moral Issues
Technological abuse is one aspect that can come into the picture once human cloning becomes a prominent feature. Imagine what a corrupt guy will do after cloning himself. There will always be someone or the other who will try to abuse this technological advancement to the extreme. In some cases, the clone might also turn out to be better than the donor.

Since a clone can conduct almost every activity an average individual can perform such as eating, drinking, bathing etc, it won't come as surprise to learn that human clones will be illegally traded for personal gains. Needless to say, trade of human beings is illegal and against all morals.
Ethical Concerns
Ethical concerns will also be raised on human cloning. There will be loads of protest from various groups, if human cloning is to be legalized in the near future. The whole idea of human cloning is already hurting the sentiments of truckloads of people out there. Some believe that human cloning is playing around with God's rules. The million dollar question that really needs our attention is whether we can create a human being at our will and wish?
Legal Issues
Human cloning laws are said to be very complicated in nature, and they vary from one country to another. The fact that the laws are divided on such a sensitive issue is a certain feature of potential trouble. There have been decent attempts made in the past to pass federal law to ban human cloning completely, but there is no definite law passed as yet that bans all human cloning.

As such, the twentieth century hasn't seen much progress on human cloning as one might have expected, considering the fact that the technological advancement has seen robust growth in the last few decade or so.

Considering all the above said disadvantages linked with human cloning, one can only be happy that the development of human cloning has not seen the day of light as yet. The first mammalian clone was a sheep called Dolly. Although the successful cloning of Dolly was a significant step in this matter, Dolly died young due to a rare disease, which is usually not seen in the sheep of her age group.

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Some folks consider human cloning as the biggest breakthrough of the century, while others consider it as a living nightmare. As such, human cloning means creating an identical human being with the aid of recent technology and genes of the donor.

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1. DNA from cell of "donor" is taken(typically a skin cell), and then inserted into an egg cell that has had it's nucleus removed, to read and duplicate the DNA of the donor.
2. New embryo has electricity sent to it to start the multiplying, which becomes a blastocyst- small clump of cells that form after fertilization
3. It is then placed in the surrogate mother

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Cloning refers to the process of developing an embryo with the DNA from an adult animal.

Credit: Dreamstime

Cloning may invoke an image of an army of identical cows or sheep churned out factory-style, but in actuality, the process is much more laborious.

The term " cloning" generally applies to a process more technically known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. What that means is that the DNA from the cell of an adult animal (take cows, for example), called the "donor," is extracted from the cell (usually a skin cell taken in a biopsy) and inserted into an egg cell from another cow. The egg cell has had its nucleus removed so that it will read and duplicate the DNA of the donor cell.

The newly created embryo is then zapped with electricity so that it starts multiplying, until it becomes a blastocyst (a small clump of cells that forms after an egg is fertilized), which is then implanted into a surrogate mother. The resulting newborn will be an identical genetic replica to the donor cow.

Cows have been cloned more than other animals because obtaining eggs from the cow is slightly easier than for swine, said geneticist Bill Muir of Purdue University, an author of a 2002 National Academy of Sciences report on the scientific concerns of animal biotechnology.

This process differs from other methods of artificial breeding, such as in vitro fertilization, in that it uses adult cells, instead of embryos.

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Cloning may invoke an image of an army of identical cows or sheep churned out factory-style, but in actuality, the process is much more laborious. The term " cloning" generally applies to a process more technically known as somatic cell nuclear transfer.