Cloning

Zena Youssef Jonathan Science January 20,2012 Cloning

Imagine how it is having someone exactly like you. You two would have the same exact looks; height, birthmarks, everything. If you’re a twin, you might already know how it feels. But what has become a social issue is cloning. Is cloning right? Is it wrong? Is it helpful? Or is it dangerous? These are questions that politicians, scientists, and students all ask. There are many benefits and consequences to cloning.

First, let’s learn what cloning is and how it works. Cloning is the process of making a genetically identical organism without normal sexual means. This works by taking the DNA from the nucleus in an organism’s cell and putting it into a hollowed out egg.Then scientists use chemicals and electricity are then used to encourage the new DNA to fuse with the egg and develop into an embryo. So how does cloning help us?

Cloning can be helpful for the human race in many ways. One way is in the amount of animals we would have. Cloning would mean that there would be more animals that can be used for food, clothes, and scientific experiments to find cures for diseases. Some say that it’s selfish to clone animals and think of it as helpful just for the use of humans. But it would be a lot of help to farmers who need animals for their survival. It could also be for scientists who want to learn more about cloning and other researches to help better the world. Which brings be to another benefit of cloning. When scientists have learned a lot more about cloning, it’s a possibility that one day they can clone extinct animals by using cells from the remnants of their fur and bones.Think of the possibilities if this is accomplished! And even better, maybe one day we will be able to clone organs. Think of the amount of people that would be saved that have heart, liver, or lung failures! It would be a great benefit, but at what cost?

Cloning may help us out a lot in the future, but it also has consequences. Statistics show that cloned animals have a higher percentage of sicknesses that normal animals. The first animal to ever be cloned was a sheep named Dolly in 1997. Dolly looked exactly like her mother, and since she was cloned, she didn’t have a father. Dolly lived a pretty normal life, but ended up dying at a young age. She had had arthritis, and was always limping. Arthritis wasn’t uncommon in farm animals, but Dolly developed it at an early age. Other cloned animals get more sicknesses than normal animals, which make people think that it’s unfair to let the animals suffer that way. Other people say that cloning is “playing God” because that’s not how organisms are normally created. And since it’s dangerous to clone organisms, it wouldn’t be safe to ever clone humans.

So as you can see, cloning can give us a lot of benefits, but it could also be dangerous. In my opinion, I don’t think scientists should clone other animals. It seems a bit unfair, especially since the animals are probably kept captive in cages. If I were given the choice to have a clone, I would say no. Even if there was no possibility of my clone getting a disease, I would still say no. It seems creepy to have someone look just like you and for some scientist to take my DNA and put it into a egg. It sort of makes me feel uncomfortable and...weird. But that's just my opinion.

So it’s really your own choice if you think cloning is beneficial or unfair. We could get so many amazing new opportunities from it, but is it really fair? Maybe we could all just learn to with the life we already have, instead of always trying to make it better and better. Because if you really think about it, life is good, and we should learn to appreciate it the way it is. :)