Gimnazija Vič
Tržaška cesta 72, 1000 Ljubljana
»Project work for English and Biology«
Mentors: professor Maja Gerden and professor Sonja Artač
Dora Levstek in Tjaša Trampuš, 2. c
Ljubljana, 2013/2014
Cloning – yes or no?
ABSTRACT
Nowadays cloning is becoming more and more familiar in the human’s world. We
already can clone cells, tissues or even some bigger organisms like animals. Sheep
Dolly, born in year 1996, was the first and also one of the most successfully cloned
mammals in the history of cloning.
There are many good sides of cloning, but we also must not forget how negative it
can be for people. Cloning can be extremely risky and dangerous. Bigger cloned
organisms are not so resistant to diseases than they should be and cloning mammals
also strongly opposes the law of nature. So today we must already know that we will
not be allowed to clone people in the future, because it is ethically unacceptable and
also very dangerous.
Miomir Knežević, PhD, who visited our school just to explain more interesting things
about cloning to us, told us that the ethical part of it is a big problem today. Lots of
people do not know why it can be useful, so they oppose it. The fact is that cloning
should not be judged just by one side of it because it can also help us in many things.
A questionnaire, which we did last month, showed us that students in our school are
quite familiar with cloning. Almost everyone agrees with cloning cells, tissues and
organs, there were more disagreements about cloning organisms and people.
Cloning is a method which is becoming really popular because today we use it in
medicine and science and we also have a lot of discussions about it, so we think that
it is very important for our future.
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Cloning – yes or no?
INDEX
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 4
WHAT IS CLONING ................................................................................................................................................... 5
REPRODUCTIVE CLONING .......................................................................................................................................... 6
THERAPEUTIC CLONING............................................................................................................................................. 6
CLONING METHODS ................................................................................................................................................. 7
STEM CELLS CLONING ............................................................................................................................................... 8
SHEEP DOLLY .......................................................................................................................................................... 9
PROBLEMS OF CLONING .......................................................................................................................................... 12
Problems during later development ............................................................................................................ 12
Abnormal gene expression patterns ............................................................................................................ 13
Telomeric differences ................................................................................................................................... 13
ADVANTAGES OF CLONING ...................................................................................................................................... 14
DISADVANTAGES OF CLONING .................................................................................................................................. 14
INTERVIEW WITH DR MIOMIR KNEŽEVIĆ, PHD ............................................................................................... 15
WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT CLONING .......................................................................................................... 17
QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................................................................ 19
RESULTS .............................................................................................................................................................. 21
DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................................................... 30
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................. 32
PHOTO INDEX ................................................................................................................................................. 32
SOURCES ........................................................................................................................................................ 35
PICTURE SOURCES ................................................................................................................................................. 36
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Cloning – yes or no?
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the project work is to present cloning, methods of cloning, its
advantages and disadvantages but most of all the main focus is the ethical part of
cloning, especially human cloning. We think that people in our school mostly agree
with cell or animal cloning, but disagree with human cloning.
We chose this topic because we are interested in it very much and because
nowadays it is becoming more and more popular because of its medical and
therapeutic opportunities.
Firstly we are going to describe what cloning actually is, short history of cloning,
some methods of it and we are also going to present sheep Dolly (what she is, how
and when she was cloned and what caused her death).
The fact is that the public opinion is divided between people who agree with cloning
and those who disagree with it. According to this, the main part of our project work is
going to be a questionnaire. We are going to research what students in our school
think about cloning and how much they really know about it.
We are also going to have an interview with Miomir Knežević, phD, who is an expert
in cloning. He is specialised in biotechnology, especially animal cell technology, cell
therapies and tissue engineering. Besides his professional interests he has a lot of
practical experience.
Books, magazines, a questionnaire and internet are going to be our main sources for
the project.
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Cloning – yes or no?
What is cloning
Cloning is the process of asexual reproduction where the newly created creature or
cell is genetically identical to the stem cells. This means that every single bit of DNA
is the same between the two. So for example, one could use cloning to produce the
exact copy of a single cell. The cell copy would be identical to the first cell and would
have the same exact DNA sequence. In many cases, cloning has been used to
reproduce type specific cells. Cloning of an individual organism, like the sheep Dolly,
has been possible.
A clone is an animal which is genetically identical to its donor "parent". We now know
that this can be achieved using cells derived from a microscopic embryo, a fetus, or
from an adult animal.
Cloning from adult animals was introduced to public in 1996 when scientists
announced the birth of Dolly, the first animal cloned in this way.
There have now been hundreds of clones produced from egg cells taken from adult
sheep, cattle, goats, pigs and mice. The real key to cloning an adult animal is the
ability to reprogram the egg cell nucleus and cause it to begin developing as if it was
a newly fertilized egg.
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Cloning – yes or no?
Reproductive cloning
Reproductive cloning is a technology used to generate an animal that has the same
nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal. Human cloning also
falls into this category. Dolly was created by reproductive cloning technology. In a
process called "somatic cell nuclear transfer", the DNA information from the nucleus
of a donor adult cell is copied into a cell whose nucleus (thus also its genetic
material) has been removed. Chemicals or electric current are used to stimulate cell
division. Once the cells start dividing and the embryo reaches a suitable stage, it is
planted into the uterus of a female host where it develops until birth.
Therapeutic cloning
Therapeutic cloning is like reproductive cloning, except that the embryos are not
allowed to develop fully. The purpose of therapeutic cloning is to extract the stem
cells from the embryos and study them. When the egg has been cloned and divided
for 5 days, the stem cells are extracted from it. The embryos are destroyed due to the
extraction process, which raises ethical concerns.
But why the need for stem cells? The answer lies in the composition of these cells.
Stem cells are unspecialized cells which can transform into any of the 220 cell types
that are in the human body. Many researchers hope that one day stem cells can be
used to serve as replacement cells to treat heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, and
various other diseases.
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Cloning – yes or no?
Cloning methods
1. Remove the nucleus from the egg cell of the donor.
2. The nucleus from the cell of the creature, which is wanted to be cloned is also
taken.
3. Nucleus, which was removed from the donor cell, is inserted into an egg cell
without a nucleus.
4. They add a mixture of chemicals, which recreates fertilization to the egg cell with
an integrated nucleus.
5. When the cell is divided into sixteen cells, they insert it into the womb of an
alternate mother.
6. The clone is completely identical to the subject, whose core cells are implanted
into an egg cell without a nucleus.
Photo 1: The Process Of Cloning
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Cloning – yes or no?
Stem cells cloning
Stem cells are primitive, unspecialized cells. A 5-day-old human embryo, called a
blastocyst, contains an inner cell mass composed of about 12 embryonic stem cells.
Adult human bodies contain relatively few stem cells, mostly concentrated in the
bone marrow.
Stem cells’ value to researchers is that they can be induced into becoming specific
tissue or organ cells.
The cloning procedure works by combining a patient's body cell with an unfertilized
egg cell from a donor.
The patient's skin cell is inserted into the outer membrane of the egg cell and
chemically induced to begin developing into a blastocyst.
In the blastocyst, embryonic cells divide, producing a mass of stem cells.
The stem cells can be induced to differentiate into different types of cells as needed
(heart, nerve, muscle, etc.). These cells are genetically identical to the patient's own
cells (that is, they are cloned).
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Cloning – yes or no?
Sheep Dolly
Dolly, the sheep, is by far the world’s most famous clone. Dolly was born on 5th July
1996. Dolly lived a pampered existence at the Roslin Institute. She mated and
produced normal offsprings in the natural way, showing that such cloned animals can
reproduce. Born on 5 July 1996, she was euthanised on 14 February 2003, aged six
and a half.
To produce Dolly, scientists used an udder cell from a Finn Dorset white sheep. They
had to find a way to “reprogram” the udder cells which they achieved by altering the
growth medium. Then they injected the cell into an unfertilised egg cell which had its
nucleus removed, and made the cells fuse by using electrical pulses. When
researchers managed to fuse the nucleus from the adult white sheep cell with the
egg cell from the black-faced seep, they needed to make sure that the resulting cell
would develop into an embryo. They cultured it for six days to see if it divided and
developed normally, before implanting it into a surrogate mother (black-faced sheep).
Dolly was born after 148 days and had a white face.
Photo 2: Methods used to clone sheep Dolly
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Cloning – yes or no?
Sheep can live to age 11 or 12, but Dolly suffered from arthritis in a hind leg joint and
from sheep pulmonary adenomatosis, a virus-induced lung tumour that is common
among sheep which are raised indoors.
The DNA in the nucleus is wrapped up into chromosomes, which shorten each time
the cell replicates. This meant that Dolly’s chromosomes were a little shorter than
those of other sheep her age and her early ageing may reflect that she was raised
from the nucleus of a 6-year old sheep. Dolly was also not entirely identical to her
genetic mother because the mitochondria, the power plants of the cell that are kept
outside the nucleus, were inherited from Dolly’s egg donor mother.
Photo 3: Sheep Dolly
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Cloning – yes or no?
Animal cloning is becoming a useful technique for producing transgenic farm animals
and is likely to be used to produce clones from valuable adults. Other applications will
also undoubtedly be discovered in the near future, such as for preserving
endangered breeds and species. Although cloning promises great advantages for
commerce and research alike, its outcome is not always certain due to high
pregnancy losses and high morbidity and mortality during the neonatal period.
Research into the mechanisms involved in the reprogramming of the nucleus is being
conducted throughout the world in an attempt to better understand the molecular and
cellular mechanisms involved in correcting these problems. Although the cause of
these anomalies remains mostly unknown, similar phenotypes have been observed
in calves derived through in vitro fertilization, suggesting that culture conditions are
involved in these phenomena. In the meantime, veterinarians and theriogenologists
have an important role to play in improving the efficiency of cloning by finding
treatments to assure normal gestation to term and to develop preventative and
curative care for cloned neonates.
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Cloning – yes or no?
Problems of cloning
Cloning animals through somatic cell nuclear transfer is simply inefficient. The
success rate ranges from 0.1 percent to 3 percent, which means that for every 1000
tries, only one to 30 clones are made. Here are some reasons:

The enucleated egg and the transferred nucleus may not be compatible

An egg with a newly transferred nucleus may not begin to divide or develop
properly

Implantation of the embryo into the surrogate mother might fail

The pregnancy itself might fail
Problems during later development
Cloned animals that do survive tend to be much bigger at birth than their natural
counterparts. Scientists call this "Large Offspring Syndrome" (LOS). Clones with LOS
have abnormally large organs. This can lead to breathing, blood flow and other
problems.
Because LOS doesn't always occur, scientists cannot reliably predict whether it will
happen in any given clone. Also, some clones without LOS have developed kidney or
brain malformations and impaired immune systems, which can cause problems later
in life.
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Cloning – yes or no?
Abnormal gene expression patterns
The clones look like the originals, and their DNA sequences are identical. But will the
clone express the right genes at the right time?
In a naturally-created embryo, the DNA is programmed to express a certain set of
genes. Later on, as the embryonic cells begin to differentiate, the program changes.
For every type of differentiated cell - skin, blood, bone or nerve, for example - this
program is different.
In cloning, the transferred nucleus doesn't have the same program as a natural
embryo. It is up to the scientist to reprogram the nucleus, like teaching an old dog
new tricks. Complete reprogramming is needed for normal or near-normal
development. Incomplete programming will cause the embryo to develop abnormally
or fail.
Telomeric differences
As cells divide, their chromosomes get shorter. This is because the DNA sequences
at both ends of a chromosome, called telomeres, shrink in length every time the DNA
is copied. The older the animal is, the shorter its telomeres will be, because the cells
have divided many, many times. This is a natural part of aging.
When scientists looked at the telomere lengths of cloned animals, they found no clear
answers. Chromosomes from cloned cattle or mice had longer telomeres than
normal. These cells showed other signs of youth and seemed to have an extended
lifespan compared with cells from a naturally conceived cow. On the other hand,
Dolly’s, the sheep's chromosomes had shorter telomere lengths than normal. This
means that Dolly's cells were aging faster than the cells from a normal sheep.
Scientists aren't sure why cloned animals show differences in telomere length.
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Cloning – yes or no?
Advantages of cloning
Advantages of cloning are:

It can provide organs for transplantation

It can provide treatments for various diseases

Cloning provide a better understanding of the nature of genetic diseases

It gives parents the opportunity to choose what characteristics they want their
children to have

It can eliminate all the worrying regarding the child’s health

The cloning of genetically modified animals can have certain medical,
agricultural and industrial applications
Disadvantages of cloning
Disadvantages of cloning are:

Transgressing the nature

Losing the diversity of genes

Inhumane

Devastate parenting and family life

Cause unbalance to the society

There is no evidence that proves humans have the right to change God’s will
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Cloning – yes or no?
INTERVIEW WITH MIOMIR
KNEŽEVIĆ, PhD
On Wednesday, 5th February 2014, Miomir Knežević, PhD, came to our school to tell
us more about the theme of our project work, cloning. He is a member of the
Investment board of the Venture Capital fund Prvi Kapital in Ljubljana, an advisor in
the Technology Park Ljubljana and a member of scientific advisory boards of several
Biotech companies and research projects.
He told us that cloning would always have good and bad sides. He agrees with
cloning cells and tissues, because doing that can help us in lots of situations. For
example, today we can make genetically modified food and plants, which is
questionable to many people, but genetically modified food is actually very positive
for Africa. We can also make genetically modified cells and bring them back to
embryonic state, which is very important for the detection and treatment of many
diseases. But cloning is not good for bigger organisms, like animals. If we clone
animals, the environment has too much influence on them and on their health.
Mr. Knežević told us that the ethical part of cloning has a lot of problems nowadays.
This is the awareness, which is based on prejudices, not on knowledge. Some
people have many prejudices about it, which is wrong. Too many Hollywood films are
causing lots of panic and anger. The truth is, though, that ethics is something that
can be very much discussed in different ways. The fact is that we have to accept
natural rules and must not take advantage of it. We can use cloning for things which
help us for our health and science, but not to abuse it for something we want.
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Cloning – yes or no?
Mr. Knežević was also talking about human cloning, which is according to the opinion
of all scientists, totally unacceptable in many ways. We asked him also about the
future of cloning and he told us that we would always use cells and tissues cloning for
human's development, but we would never be allowed to clone people.
Talking with Mr. Knežević was very interesting and instructive. We heard a lot of new
things, which make our work for the project even more successful.
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Cloning – yes or no?
WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT
CLONING
People have different opinions about cloning. Some people think that cloning is good
and others think it’s not humane.
There are some reasons why people say YES to cloning:

Cloning using the DNA from the cell of an adult with the desired traits or
talents might produce an infant with similar potentials.

Heterosexual couple, in which the husband is completely sterile, could use
adult DNA cloning to produce a child.

Two lesbians could decide to have a child by DNA cloning rather than by
artificial insemination by a man's sperm.

The possibility that through cloning technology we will learn to renew activity of
damaged cells by growing new cells and replacing them.

The capability to create humans with identical genetic makeup to act as organ
donors for each other, for example kidney and bone marrow transplants.

The benefit of studying cell differentiation at the same time that cloning is
studied and developed.

Sterile couples will be able to have an offspring that will have either the
mother’s or father’s genetic pattern.
And there are some reasons why people say NO to cloning:

There is no guarantee that the first cloned humans would be normal.

Cells seem to have a defined life span built into them.

Large scale cloning could deplete genetic diversity. It is diversity that drives
evolution and adaptation. It prevents an entire species from disappearing
because of susceptibility to a disease.
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Cloning – yes or no?

Some people have expressed concern about the effects that cloning would
have on relationships. For example, a child born from an adult DNA cloning
from his father would be a delayed twin of one of his parents.

There are religious objections not to clone.

A “black market” of fetuses may arise from desirable donors that will want to
be able to clone themselves, for example movie stars, athletes, and others.

Technology is not well developed. It has a low fertility rate. In cloning Dolly,
277 eggs were used, 30 started to divide, nine induced pregnancy, and only
one survived.

Clones may be treated as second-class citizens.

Unknown psychosocial harms with impacts on the family and society.
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Cloning – yes or no?
QUESTIONNAIRE
We decided to prepare a questionnaire because we wanted to find out what students
think about cloning. We were mostly focused on the attitude towards cloning, but we
also asked students what they knew about cloning (definition of cloning, which was
the first cloned mammal animal...).
The questionnaire is presented below.
1. Gender:
1. Female
2. Which class do you go to?
2. Male
1.
2.
3.
4.
3. Which definition of cloning do you mostly agree with? Explain why.
1. Cloning is a method of sexual reproduction which combines genetic
information of parents at the time of offspring.
2. Cloning is the process where a mother cell produces two daughter cells.
3. Cloning is the process of asexual reproduction where the newly created
creature or cell is genetically identical to stem cells.
4. I don't know.
Explanation: ______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
4. Which was the first cloned mammal animal?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sheep
Cat
Cow
Goat
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Cloning – yes or no?
5. When was this animal born?
1.
2.
3.
4.
1976
1986
1996
2006
6. We can clone cells, tissues, organs and also whole organisms, for example
animals. Which methods do you agree with and which are unacceptable for
you? According to the answer you choose, write a short explanation why you
agree or disagree with it.
I agree
I disagree
CELLS
1
2
TISSUES
1
2
ORGANS
1
2
ORGANISMS
1
2
Explanation:
7. If you agree with organisms’ cloning, please answer the following question.
Do you agree with human cloning?
1. Yes
2. No
Explanation:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Cloning – yes or no?
Results
The research was conducted 11th February, 2014. Sample size is 109 respondents.
The results of the statistical analysis are presented below. We presented the results
with a graphic display of frequency distribution by individual questions and
connection of individual questions by gender and class (age).
As you can see from the first and second graph we asked almost the same amount of
female and male population and almost the same amount of students from four
different classes (age from 15 to 19).
Gender
100 %
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
54.1
45.9
female
100 %
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
male
Class
30.5
21.0
1
2
26.7
3
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21.9
4
Cloning – yes or no?
Which definition of cloning
do you mostly agree with?
%
100
89.8
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
9.3
0.9
0
0
Cloning is a
Cloning is the
Cloning is the
method of sexual process where a process where a
reproduction
mother cell
mother cell
which combines produces two
produces two
genetic
daughter cells. daughter cells.
information of
parents at the
time of offspring.
I don't know.
The third definition (Cloning is the process of asexual reproduction where the newly
created creature or cell is genetically identical to stem cells.) is the right answer and
almost all of the students chose this one (89.8%). The most common explanations
were:

Cloning isn’t sexual reproduction.

Cloning is a process where we get two or more identical organisms.

This is the definition that we have learnt at biology.
Nobody chose the second definition, 0.9% chose the first one and 9.3% of students
didn’t know the answer.
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Cloning – yes or no?
%
100
98.2
Which was the first cloned
mammal animal?
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
1.8
0
sheep
goat
98.2% of students chose the right answer (sheep) and only 1.8% chose goat as the
answer. None of the students chose cat or cow.
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Cloning – yes or no?
When was this animal born?
100
%
90
80
70
60
46.3
50
44.4
40
30
20
10
5.6
3.7
0
1976
1986
1996
2006
The answer which was chosen in most cases (46.3%) is the year 1986. But the right
answer is 1996 and was picked by 44.4% of students. A small percentage of students
chose the first (5.6%) or fourth choice (3.7%).
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Cloning – yes or no?
% Do you agree with cloning cells? - Comparison by gender
96
94.5
93.2
100
90
80
70
60
female
50
male
40
all
30
20
6.8
5.5
4
10
0
I agree
I disagree
Almost all of the students agree with cloning cells (94.5%). Fewer women agree with
it in comparison to men.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
%
Do you agree with cloning cells? - Comparison by class
100
95.5 96.9
94.3
85.7
1. class
2. class
3. class
4. class
all
14.3
4.5 3.1
I agree
5.7
I disagree
It’s interesting that all students from the 4th class agree with cloning cells, the lowest
agreement is in the 3rd class.
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Cloning – yes or no?
%
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Do you agree with cloning tissues? - Comparison by gender
93.2
86
89.9
female
male
all
14
6.8
I agree
%
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
10.1
I disagree
Do you agree with cloning tissues? - Comaprison by class
93.8
86.4
89.3 87 89.5
1. class
2. class
3. class
4. class
13.6
6.3
I agree
10.7 13 10.5
all
I disagree
Agreement with cloning tissues is lower than agreement with cloning cells for about
5%.
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Cloning – yes or no?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
%
Do you agree with cloning organs? - Comparison by gender
90
88.1
89
female
male
all
11.9
I agree
10
11
I disagree
Agreement with cloning organs is very similar to the results of cloning cells and
tissues in comparison by gender.
Do you agree with cloning organs? - Comparison by class
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
%
95.5 93.8
82.1 82.6
88.6
1. class
2. class
3. class
4. class
17.9 17.4
4.5
I agree
6.3
11.4
all
I disagree
Agreement of 1st class and 2nd class is almost the same as agreement from previous
questions (cloning cells and tissues), but agreement of 3 rd class and 4th class is
lower.
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Cloning – yes or no?
Do you agree with cloning organisms? - Comparison by gender
100
%
88.1
90
80
73.4
70
56
60
female
44
50
male
40
all
26.6
30
20
11.9
10
0
I agree
I disagree
Do you agree with cloning organisms? - Comaprison by class
100
%
90
81.3 78.6
80
73.3
68.2
70
60.9
60
50
40
30
20
1. class
2. class
3. class
39.1
31.8
18.8 21.4
4. class
26.7
all
10
0
I agree
I disagree
Unlike cloning cells, tissues and organs, we can see that a lot of students disagree
with cloning whole organisms. Men agree with cloning organisms (44%) more than
women (11%). The highest agreement is in the 4 th class and lowest agreement is in
2nd class.
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Cloning – yes or no?
Do you agree with human cloning? - Comparison by gender
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
%
90.9
76.2
60
female
40
male
all
23.8
9.1
yes
no
Do you agree with human cloning? - Comparison by class
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
%
84.2
88.2
77.3
75
1. class
54.5
45.5
22.7
15.8
2. class
3. class
4. class
25
all
11.8
yes
no
Agreement with human cloning is a little bit lower than agreement with cloning
organisms (in average 3%). Men agree with human cloning (40%) more than women
(9.1%). The biggest disagreement is in the 2nd class, while in the 4th class there are
almost half of students who agree with human cloning (45.5%).
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Cloning – yes or no?
Discussion
The research was conducted by questionnaire and investigated knowledge and
attitude towards the cloning cells, tissues, organs and also whole organisms and
humans. The questionnaire included closed ended questions, yes/no questions to
assess attitudes towards cloning and also provided open ended responses for
additional comments.
A total of 109 questionnaires was distributed to the students in four different classes.
The survey was voluntary and anonymous. The sample consists of 54.1% women
and 45.9% men and almost the same amount of students from four different classes
(age from 15 to 19).
From the results we can see that the knowledge of cloning is very high; 89.8%
declares the correct definition of cloning. Almost all students are familiar with the first
cloned animal and a poor half of them (44.4 %) stated the correct year when the
sheep Dolly was born. In comparison by gender and class (age), there is no
differences in familiarity with cloning.
Agreement with cloning cells (94.3%), tissues (89.9%) and organs (89%) is very high,
there are no specific differences in comparison by gender and class of the
respondents. But the opinion about cloning the whole organisms and human beings
is much different. As expected, only a small part of the respondents agree with
cloning organisms (26.6%) and the agreement with human cloning is still a little bit
lower (23.8%).
The attitude towards organisms’ and human cloning is dependent on gender and
age. On average men agree much more than women, the agreement is also higher
among older students. In details, 40% of men and 45.5% students from the 4th class
agree with human cloning and this is well above the average.
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Cloning – yes or no?
On one hand the main reasons for human cloning are medical opportunities but on
the other hand the most common explanations and additional comments about
disagreement with human cloning are:

against the law of nature,

unethical, unnatural, immoral etc.,

people would lose their individuality,

possibility of abuse (army, immortality etc.),

other reasons (overpopulation, we have already changed our planet, so we do
not need to do the same with people ...).
Those findings are consistent with the results of other studies and research we have
found on the internet. For example: Gallup institute found out that eight of 10
American oppose human cloning. 77% of Americans said if humans could ever be
cloned, it would be a bad thing for humanity, and 78% said that human cloning would
be morally wrong.
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Cloning – yes or no?
CONCLUSION
In 1996 Dolly, the cloned sheep, caught the world’s imagination and caused a media
sensation. Despite hoaxes and speculations, no one has yet cloned a human being.
Aside from the hype, what are the real issues? Why would it be right to clone human
beings? Why not? The advocates for both sides of the issue have many reasons to
clone or not to clone.
The public is divided into two parts – the minority who agree with human cloning and
majority who disagree. The ethics of human cloning has become a great issue in the
past few years. On one hand the human cloning would be a great scientific discovery
but on the other hand it is a disaster waiting to happen. Cloning could possibly lead
to cures of terrible diseases but at the same time it could go overboard very quickly.
People could start abusing the technology and it could be an absolute disaster. Also
to manage human cloning, we would need money. With that money, we could
probably do something that benefits the world. People think the money and effort
used for cloning research can be better put into other research that has a moral
benefit, such as stem cell or cancer research.
What is wrong and what is right is a changeable issue which depends on various
situations. If cloning is the way to create organs for people and does not involve a
whole human being, if it is for helping and not for creating a person, it is acceptable,
otherwise it is not acceptable.
There is something else to point out. One must understand that cloning does not
produce an exact copy of the person being cloned. What cloning does, is that it
copies the DNA/genes of the person and creates a duplicate genetically. The clone
will not be a Xerox copy. He or she will grow up in a different environment with
different experiences and different opportunities. Genetics does not entirely define a
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Cloning – yes or no?
person and the personality. The character of humans and how they age mostly
depends on the environment in which they grow.
As students, we have tried to approach both sides and approach them with an
unbiased opinion. We personally think that the world of genetics is fascinating, we
see cloning as a wonderful advancement in technology and knowledge. We do not
think it should be used to reproduce humans though. We do not believe that we
should try to develop other ways beside the natural way to bring life into this world.
Cloning cells, tissues and organs falls under a different category than cloning human
beings. We think it would be advantageous to science and medicine to clone tissues
and organs. However, with our present understanding we would allow cloning for
tissues and organs.
Around the world, different countries have also different rules relating to cloning –
some don’t allow reproductive cloning, but do allow therapeutic cloning, while other
countries allow both types. Creating human embryos in a cloning process to replace
organs is for example legal in the United Kingdom, Israel, South Korea and Australia.
Japan is also to issue guidelines that will legitimise some aspects of cloning.
However, cloning research is illegal in many other parts of the world, including the
United States.
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Cloning – yes or no?
PHOTO INDEX
Photo 1: The Process Of Cloning ............................................................................... 7
Photo 2: Methods used to clone sheep Dolly.............................................................. 9
Photo 3: Sheep Dolly ................................................................................................ 10
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Cloning – yes or no?
SOURCES
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/ (12. 10. 2013)
http://robby.nstemp.com/ (12. 10. 2013)
http://universe-review.ca/F10-multicell06.htm (12. 10. 2013)
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-cloning.htm (19. 10. 2013)
http://www.bioarts.com/rnd.htm (19. 10. 2013)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning (19.10.2013)
http://cloning-for-dummies.tripod.com/types_of_cloning.html (19. 10. 2013)
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0122429/ethics/advantages.htm (19. 10. 2013)
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0122429/ethics/disadvantages.htm (19. 10. 2013)
http://www.religioustolerance.org/clo_intra.htm (19. 10. 2013)
http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-we-clone-animals (22.12.2013)
http://www.gallup.com/ (24. 2. 2014)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060704051435AAqpeNP (25. 2. 2014)
AGAR, Nicholas et al. 2008. POPOLNA KOPIJA; razpletanje razprave o kloniranju. Prva izdaja. Ljubljana :
založba Krtina. ISBN 978-961-260-007-5
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Picture Sources
Picture 1: http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/stemcells/ (19. 10. 2013)
Picture 2: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/katarneycolumn11.htm/ (12. 10. 2013)
Picture 3: http://universe-review.ca/F10-multicell06.htm (12. 10. 2013)
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