Where
to go with Cloning?
Is
cloning actually possible? What exactly does cloning do? Could we actually
clone people? Those are a few of the questions that come to mind when people
think of cloning. Also when people think of cloning they think of the movies
where aliens are cloning each other to take over the earth but, are it actually
possible to make an exact look alike of a human or animal? Through scientific
discoveries it is actually possible.
The
movies are usually what make peoples impressions of cloning, but do we really
know what cloning is? Defining cloning is pretty simple; it is creating an
exact look alike organism of something else, making it exactly the same in
every way, even its DNA. Around the world scientists in laboratories have
successfully cloned different organisms; in the past scientists have cloned
large and small animals. Some of those animals include cows, goats, pigs,
rodents, sheep, and even house pets. By seeing how many different animals we
have cloned people would wonder why we don’t clone humans. But there are more
dangers to cloning than we ultimately thought to be.
Throughout
the world many experiments have been done that have given us many interesting
statistics about cloning showing why attempting to clone humans would just not
be safe. For example after being born many cloned animals don’t live nearly as
long as the original animal due to an infection or problems. About 90 percent
of cloning attempts don’t give a clone in perfect condition. Also some clones
get a disease called large offspring syndrome, adding up that we haven’t done
enough safe, successful experimenting, leads us to not take on the task of
trying to clone a human at this point in time.
Cloning
people does not seem to be in the question right now but scientists have been
working on possibly a very interesting yet controversial project. Recently
scientists have found well preserved remains of mammoths in the tundra of
Russia, also they have the DNA. Scientists have had the plan to possibly clone
a mammoth and bring it back to life after 50,000 years of extinction. Many
people though do not like the idea of cloning an animal that has been extinct
for that long. The possibility is still there but a lot of people believe that
if we have a hard time protecting the animals we have on earth now, we
shouldn’t try to resurrect a mammoth that has been dead for thousands of years.
Scientist
have continued their experimenting with cloning and have cloned quite a few
animals but there are still a lot of questions yet to answer. In time will the
government try to clone humans? We don’t
know yet but in time a lot of these questions will probably be answered.
