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Sarah Griffin
Biotechnology: Cloning
Professor Bobeldyk
IDIS-110-A
What is Cloning?
Cloning reproduces an identical copy of genetic material by splitting the embryo or
chromosomes of an animal in half.
What are the different kinds of cloning?
1. Therapeutic cloning- is the production of cloned cells to produce tissues and organs to
improve health care treatments.
2. Reproductive cloning- means duplicating an existing animal, by stripping an embryo
of it’s own DNA, taking the DNA of an adult animal and implanting that adult DNA
into the stripped embryo.
3. Embryo cloning- is producing twins or triplets by producing DNA identical to the
cloned embryo by taking cells from the embryo and allowing the cells to form into
other embryos.
What is being cloned?
Mice, sheep, cows, frogs, and other various animals, both large and small, are being
cloned. The cloning of humans; however, is on the verge of becoming a possibility in the
near future.
Who is doing it?
Scientists and Doctors
What are some positives?
There are many positive reasons that state the benefits of cloning humans:
1. Cloning might allow doctors to save patients lives by genetically altering organs or
producing organs that are suitable for transplantation.
2. Species on the verge of extinction could be saved.
3. There wouldn’t be any more defective genes.
4. Infertility problems would be solved.
5. Therapeutic cloning would produce cells that make bone marrow for leukemia
patients.
6. Eventually scientists would be able to reverse the aging process.
7. Cloning heart cells would be allow doctors to reverse the effects of heart attacks
through implanting healthy heart cells into the damaged area of the heart.
What are some negatives?
Many people who are pro-life activists feel that cloning and stem cell research is
unethical and extremely immoral:
1. The numbers of failures to reproduce Dolly reached up to two hundred and seventy
something, meaning there will be many human embryos destroyed along the process
before someone actually is able to clone humans.
2. In the case of therapeutic cloning they would be destroying one living being in order
to prolong the life of another living being.
3. Doctors who clone living things might be seen as playing God.
Websites used to find information:
www.ornl.gov/hgmis/elsi/cloning.html
www.humancloning.org/benefits.htm
www.humancloning.org/allthe.htm