Genetic Modification and Cloning

Genetic Modification and Cloning

  • Submitted By: cnelson
  • Date Submitted: 05/24/2008 2:29 PM
  • Category: Science
  • Words: 892
  • Page: 4
  • Views: 4

Imagine yourself in the year 2030, walking down a crowded city street. You look to your left and see the exact image of yourself. You look to your right and see the same. After examining the surrounding area you realize that every single person you see looks exactly like you. Does this seem like a nightmare? If it does, then think again, human cloning is a very real possibility in the near future. In recent times stories of baby clones have been emerging at an ever-increasing rate. While most find this an unethical and unnatural fact, they must realize that it is indeed just that, a fact that we will have to deal with and should support.

First of all, when speaking of cloning, it is important to mention that cloning is not reserved to simply making a baby that is the exact copy of an already living human being. Human cloning has many other uses, most of these medical. It is possible to clone embryos to create new organs for the human body in order to reduce the risk of an organ being rejected On July 5th 1995, a sheep was born. The sheep looked completely normal and was quite healthy. This sheep was named Dolly. The peculiarity about this sheep is that she was the first clone ever produced that resulted in a success. Recently, the same scientists who worked on the Dolly project have been researching the genetic modification of animal organs. They have successfully produced four piglets without one of two genes that cause humans to reject animal organ transplants. They did this using the same method that they used to create Dolly. They are on the verge of knocking out the second gene that causes the rejection and when this happens it will be one of the greatest medical progressions of our time. It will no longer be necessary to wait months and months on a donor list in order to receive a transplant. The organ will simply be ordered from farms set up to harvest the animal organs and within a day or so the...

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