What actually is cloning?

The cloning used in society our days is also known as reproductive cloning, meaning that a genetic twin is created of another organism. DNA is transferred and extracted from the donor and inserted into the egg of another organism of the same species (1). The nucleus is removed from the egg cell meaning that the it will duplicate the DNA of the donor cell (2).

Steps(3):
1. Isolate the donor cells
2. Remove the nucleus from the egg cells and discard
3. Transfer the somatic cell nucleus from the donor into the egg cell without the nucleus
4. Stimulate cell division
5. Implant embryo in the surrogate mother
6. Deliver the baby

For an online example and tutorial on the basics of cloning follow this link:


1. "Genome.gov | Cloning." Genome.gov | National Human Genome Research Institute. 19 May 2009 .

2. "The Science of cloning." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. 19 May 2009 .

3. "Cloning." Learn.Genetics (TM). 19 May 2009 .

The debate of cloning

The actual controversy of cloning varies. For example many people believe there is nothing wrong with cloning animals but have a big problem when it comes to the idea of cloning humans. Similarly lies the controversy with religion and the question: "When does life really begin?" Another debate lies in the fact that clones are usually born with abnormalities and are relatively large, making them not only a danger to themselves but to the surrogate mother (1). Problems and disputes over cloning are continuous. Many people are now also concerned over reproduction. Dolly the Sheep had 6 lambs when ewe's normally only have two or three (2). So is this an effect of cloning or just a chance? Scientists do not know the exact answer to the question but regard this as a shocking experience.

The issue of scientists "playing God" as many people call it, always sparks concern. Religious peoples who normally turn to books such as the Bible, Torah, Koran for answers to their questions may not find the answer to cloning easily (4).

According to an MSNBC online survey (3) that asks "In hindsight, what do you think about the cloning of Dolly the sheep? "
-46% believe Dolly's birth remains a landmark scientific achievement.
-29% believe cloning a sheep - or any creature - is wrong and should not be done.
-13% believe that animal cloning doesn't worry them, but are still afraid it could lead to human cloning.
-10% say neat trick, but what's next?
-2.3% say they aren't quite sure.

With percentages so varied, the spectrum ranges from total anti-cloning to pro animal cloning but not human cloning to pro-cloning. In my personal opinion I'm not quite sure what I think yet. I feel that cloning is a way to excel science, a way to learn by experimentation. Yet at the same time I'm not sure i would like to see human cloned. To me the cloning animals like Dolly is an amazing breakthrough, yet the cloning of humans may be for a different time in the near future.

1. "Is human cloning legal?" The Royal Society - the UK's national academy of science. 19 May 2009 .

2. "Ananova - Supermum sheep Dolly has six lambs." Ananova - www.ananova.com. 19 May 2009 .

3. "Dolly's cloning: Good science or bad news? - Breaking Bioethics- msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. 19 May 2009 .

4. "Religions reveal little consensus on cloning - Beyond Dolly: Human Cloning- msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. 19 May 2009 .

Listed Pros and Cons

Cons: (1)
1. Intuitively, it just feels wrong.
2. Clones could be created to suffice as an army or for malicious purposes.
3. Individuality will be sacrificed.
4. We're interfering with nature.
5. We're playing God.
6. De-valuation of clones vs. non-clones.
7. Risk of identity theft by clone.

Pros: (2)
1. Could create organs for those in need.
2. Could supply therapeutic development for serious diseases.
3. Allows infertile parents to have children with their DNA.
4. Could create extra food sources (cloned fruits, vegetables, meats0
5. Could help parents with genetic defect still have children.
6. Could help treat damage to the brain (damaged adult nerve tissue does not regenerate)
7. Could explain causes of miscarriages

The pros in this list clearly outweigh the cons. The ability for an infertile mother of father to have children with his or her own DNA is definitely of more importance than the loss of ones individuality. Science, as Dr. Deano Smith (a physics teacher at Greenhills School) says is all about testability. The fact that science needs to be proved wrong to further the world is a strength of science. Cloning one day may help hundreds or thousands of people and if not we may as well try it to see the possibilities the future holds.

1. "Why Not Clone." The Clone Rights United Front - The Worlds First Pro-Human Cloning Activist Group. 19 May 2009 .

2. "Pro's-Cloning." John Pais' Instructional Design Website. 19 May 2009 .

Therapeutic Cloning

Therapeutic Cloning Definition One: Therapeutic cloning is a technique that would be used to produce cloned embryos, but only to create stem cells that can in turn be used to repair damaged or defective tissue in the parent of the cloned cells. Such stem cells could theoretically be used to grow replacement livers or hearts (or any of a variety of organs) for transplant without fear of rejection. They might be used to create healthy nerve cells for people with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. Skin cells could be derived from cloned stem cells for burn victims. (1)

Therapeutic Cloning Definition Two: A procedure in which cells, typically skin cells, are taken from a patient and inserted into a fertilized egg whose nucleus has been removed. The cell that is so created is permitted to divide repeatedly to form a blastocyst. Scientists then extract stem cells from it, and use those cells to grow tissue that are a perfect genetic match for the patient. (2)

17 Americans die each day (3) waiting for a transplant. Thats an average of 6,200 Americans a year. With people unwilling to release their organs after death for a person in need, it makes sense to clone organs. By cloning organs for specific races, blood types and genders the extensive need of organs could be eliminated. Though this crosses into the realm of stem cell research, the fact that organs could be cloned for human benefit eliminating 6,200 deaths a year is remarkable. Scientists have already been able to clone skin cells to help burn victims and have found great success (4).

1. "AFAR: Therapeutic Cloning." AFAR: Infoaging: Information about the biology of aging, healthy aging and diseases of aging. 19 May 2009 .

2. "Therapeutic cloning definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms." 19 May 2009 .

3. "How to Be an Organ & Tissue Donor." 19 May 2009 .

4. "Cloning." Birmingham City Council - Home Page. 19 May 2009 .

Dolly - The first cloned sheep

Dolly the sheep (named after Dolly Parton the singer) was the first genetically cloned sheep. In 1996, Dolly was created by Scottish scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh. She was the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell (1). Since then scientists have been able to clone 10 other mammals; cows, goats, pigs, rats, mice, rabbits, cats, dogs, horses and mules (2). In 2003 Dolly was out down for lung disease at the age of six. In 2002 she was diagnosed with arthritis, a common disease for elderly sheep (3). The worries now lie with the people. Concerns about Dolly's age and the question of health is a major concern. Scientists claim it is not clear whether the cloning process is to blame for her arthritis, but since Dolly was cloned from an adult cell and not an embryo she may be susceptible for premature aging (3).


1. "BBC ON THIS DAY | 22 | 1997: Dolly the sheep is cloned." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 19 May 2009 .

2. "Dolly was world's hello to cloning's possibilities - USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. 19 May 2009 .

3. "CNN.com - First cloned sheep Dolly dies at 6 - Feb. 14, 2003." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. 19 May 2009 .

Snuppy the first cloned puppy

In 2005, Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk managed to clone the first dog. As we get closer and closer to the idea of human cloning Snuppy brings along excitement and fear. The puppy will be used to research diseases since they have similar characteristics to humans. Snuppy was created at the Seoul National University, by using a cell from a young Afghan hound (1). He was then placed in the surrogate mother, a yellow Labrador. Dogs are very difficult to clone. The team was only able to create three pregnancies using more than 1,000 embryos transfers into 123 recipients (1). One surrogate suffered a miscarriage, another died of pneumonia at 22 months leaving Snuppy as the success story. The chart above represents the process as to how Snuppy was created. The process is similar to the one Dolly the sheep underwent.

As more and more animals are being cloned moral concern arises. In situations such as these what is considered the ethical thing to do? Freda Scott-Park (President Elect of the British Veterinary Association) claims,"No one can deny that techniques that advance our understanding of diseases and their therapy are to be encouraged. But cloning of animals raises many ethical and moral issues that have still to be properly debated within the profession." (2)

Others like Dr Gerald Schatten (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) believe that "it is possible, [to] responsibly develop the ability to derive stem cells from cloned dog embryos, that our very best friends may turn out to be the first beneficiaries of stem cell medicine." (2)



1. "USATODAY.com - Korean first to successfully clone a dog." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. 19 May 2009 .

2. "BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | S Korea unveils first dog clone." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 19 May 2009 .

Amazonian ants make cloning a natural process

So I wondered, is cloning ever a natural process? Is there anything that clones itself naturally? Is that even possible? Would this change my opinion about cloning? Well a select group of tropical ants seem to have answered my question. The ants do not reproduce and are unable to mate for the lack of a "mussel organ" (1). So instead they clone themselves. A group of scientists became concerned when they found no males in an ant colony. Turns out each and every ant in the colony is female and has the exact DNA as the queen. These ants are the first species to ever to reproduce naturally without sex (2). The sex organs of all the ants have virtually disappeared. Yet the ants have disadvantages too. Since they all have the same DNA, they are highly susceptible to pandemics (3). If a virus were to kill on ant, all of them would be likely to die of the same virus since they have the same immune systems.

Now this sparks some concern. If theses female ants can naturally clone themselves does that make the process of cloning animals in a lab natural? I believe these ants have changed my opinion a bit. It seems to me that if animals were forced to adapt in a certain way they would. So as humans we could adapt to the process of cloning. These ants do what is considered in the modern day an unnatural process that sparks the question of "playing God." Yet they do it naturally. If an animal can clone, can't we?


1. "Scientists Discover Asexual Female Ant Colony - Science News - redOrbit." RedOrbit – Science, Space, Technology, Health News and Information. 19 May 2009 .

2. "BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Ants inhabit 'world without sex'" BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 19 May 2009 .

3. "Rare All-Female Ant Society That Reproduces By Cloning Discovered." Impact Lab A laboratory of the future human experience. 19 May 2009 .

The cloning of endangered species.

What if scientists were able to save endangered species from extinction? Why not? We, as humans constantly blame ourselves for the destruction of our environment and the loss of the animals this destruction creates. So, what if we could help, by cloning?

The Pyrenean Ibex, a goat-like species that was listed as extinct has been cloned. With help from domestic goats scientists were able to clone the extinct animals and "resurrect" the extinct (1). The last Pyrenean Ibex died nine years ago. Jose Folch (University of Zaragoza in northern Spain) used a cell from the last living Ibex and inserted it into an egg of a regular goat. Though the process of the cloning was inefficient the fact that scientists were able to clone an extinct species is quite amazing. The clone that was created died of a lung infection seven minutes after the birth (2). Though the clone died very quickly, its very possible the infection was not related to the cloning process. Using nuclear transfers, 57 goats received embryos, seven became pregnant, which led to one birth.

Again, this sparks the controversy of "playing God." Yet if we as humans could make -up for the one of the many mistakes we have made, the cloning of endangered animals may not be a bad idea. Do we not play God as we kill them? Killing innocent animals who have done us no harm seems wrong in my opinion, and being able to save a species is a blessing.



1. "The Big Question: Could cloning be the answer to saving endangered species from extinction? -." 19 May 2009 .

2. "Hello again, Pyrenean ibex: Can cloning resurrect an extinct species?: Scientific American Blog." Science News, Articles and Information | Scientific American. 19 May 2009 .

Ordinary People and their views on cloning

From research I can conclude that the people most likely to be against cloning are elderly adults, the religious, and those with conservative backgrounds. For example elderly people are very often against change. They are people who have grown and lived in generations different from our youth and often find scientific advancements unruly. The religious view cloning as a sin. Religious men and women often believe that cloning is a way for humans to "play God" and consider this ridiculous. The tensions between science and religion has been around since the beginning of time, and many religious people believe in God or a higher power than humans. The conservative also often have a problem with cloning. In this American society with great political ambitions its often difficult to get view points across. Those of the conservative background often tend to be greatly religious and hold high beliefs in the "American Family." This causes disputes over cloning, since creating a family by human power is not a "real" family. These are general and broad demographics.

I asked a Greenhills junior about her opinion on cloning. I asked the question: Whats your opinion of cloning? Are you for it or against it and why? She responded by saying that she did not "know a lot about the topic" but was "pro-cloning for the better of furthering scientific advancements."

I then asked another junior girl the same question. Her opinion differed quite a bit. She claimed that she was "not for cloning because of its effects." She said "its morally wrong in my opinion for humans to take on a role of creation." She also said she did not know a lot of the details on the topic but was happy and open to learn more.

Cloning Survey

In order to determine some results of my own, I conducted an 8 question short survey. The survey was put on SurveyMonkey.com and the link was sent to many Greenhills school students. After about a week 38 people had taken the survey. The results and questions are as followed.

1. In your personal opinion are you for the cloning of humans?
23.7% :Yes, I believe that the cloning of humans is great for the scientific community.
57.9% :Not so sure, I find it strange and am not sure of my opinion.
26.3% :No, the cloning of humans is very wrong in my opinion.

2. In your opinion are you in favor of cloning animals or endangered animal species?
52.6% :Yes, I am completely for the use of cloning on animal.
44.7% :Kind of, I am for it yet still skeptical of its scientific advancements.
7.9% :No, I absolutely oppose the cloning of animals

3. Would you, yourself ever eat cloned meat, fish, fruits of vegetables?
26.3% :Yes, all the above sound delicious.
15.8% :No, none of the above interest me.
23.7% :Fruits or vegetables
42.1% :I do not know yet. I'll have to decide at another point in time.

4. In your own opinion, do you believe cloning is morally wrong?
13.2% :Yes.
57.9% :No.
34.2% :Unsure, I feel uneasy about the topic at hand.

5. How do you feel about the use of cloning to create human organs for people on the transplant list. Is it a good way to reduce the number of deaths of those waiting?
78.9% :Yes.
10.5% :No.
15.8% :Not sure.

6. Are you religious?
42.1% :Yes.
60.5% :No
2.6% :Not sure what you mean by the question.

7. Are you Male or Female?
44.7% :Male
57.9%: Female
2.6% :Rather not say.

8. What age range are you in?
92.1% ;18 or under
0% :19-30
0% :31-40
7.89% :41-50
0% :51-60
0% :61-70
0% :70+

All sources cited

"AFAR: Therapeutic Cloning." AFAR: Infoaging: Information about the biology of aging, healthy aging and diseases of aging. 19 May 2009 .

"Ananova - Supermum sheep Dolly has six lambs." Ananova - www.ananova.com. 19 May 2009 .

"BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Ants inhabit 'world without sex'" BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 19 May 2009 .

"BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | S Korea unveils first dog clone." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 19 May 2009 .

"BBC ON THIS DAY | 22 | 1997: Dolly the sheep is cloned." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 19 May 2009 .

"The Big Question: Could cloning be the answer to saving endangered species from extinction? -." 19 May 2009 .

"Cloning." Birmingham City Council - Home Page. 19 May 2009 .

"Cloning." Learn.Genetics (TM). 19 May 2009 .

"CNN.com - First cloned sheep Dolly dies at 6 - Feb. 14, 2003." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. 19 May 2009 .

"Dolly was world's hello to cloning's possibilities - USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. 19 May 2009 .

"Dolly's cloning: Good science or bad news? - Breaking Bioethics- msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. 19 May 2009 .

"Genome.gov | Cloning." Genome.gov | National Human Genome Research Institute. 19 May 2009 .

"Hello again, Pyrenean ibex: Can cloning resurrect an extinct species?: Scientific American Blog." Science News, Articles and Information | Scientific American. 19 May 2009 .

"How to Be an Organ & Tissue Donor." 19 May 2009 .

"Is human cloning legal?" The Royal Society - the UK's national academy of science. 19 May 2009 .

"Pro's-Cloning." John Pais' Instructional Design Website. 19 May 2009 .

"Rare All-Female Ant Society That Reproduces By Cloning Discovered." Impact Lab A laboratory of the future human experience. 19 May 2009 .

"Religions reveal little consensus on cloning - Beyond Dolly: Human Cloning- msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. 19 May 2009 .

"The Science of cloning." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. 19 May 2009 .

"Scientists Discover Asexual Female Ant Colony - Science News - redOrbit." RedOrbit – Science, Space, Technology, Health News and Information. 19 May 2009 .

"Therapeutic cloning definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms." 19 May 2009 .

"USATODAY.com - Korean first to successfully clone a dog." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. 19 May 2009 .

"Why Not Clone." The Clone Rights United Front - The Worlds First Pro-Human Cloning Activist Group. 19 May 2009 .