Cloning is described as “the technique of producing a genetically identical copy of an organism by replacing the nucleus of an unfertilized ovum with the nucleus of a body cell from the organism”. In 1997, a sheep by the name of Dolly became the first successful cloned creature. The cloned sheep, named Dolly, resembled a naturally born sheep in every way. The fundamental difference between the two was the absence of sperm in Dolly’s embryonic development.
The birth of Dolly has sparked a significant breakthrough in genetic engineering technology. Scientists have successfully reproduced numerous non-human species over the years, including mice, pigs, cows, dogs, and monkeys. Human cloning has been the subject of research, but the technology has been in its infancy for some time because of the numerous ethical issues it raises. Let’s talk about the process of human cloning and the steps that go into it.
Types of Human Cloning
Reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning are the two categories of human cloning.
Therapeutic Cloning
The primary goal of therapeutic cloning is the creation of stem cells from cloned embryos that will aid in the treatment of numerous illnesses and ailments. Additionally, it helps with organ replacement therapy.
Similar to SCNT, the process involves growing stem cells from the embryo’s cells rather than implanting the embryo into a surrogate mother. Gene cloning is still in its infancy in India, but researchers are hopeful that it will soon take off and open the door to a wide range of hitherto incurable illnesses and ailments.
Reproductive Cloning
Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a procedure used in reproductive cloning to create the embryo. DNA is the genetic material that should be present in the somatic cell. The cloned subject’s baby is born by the surrogate mother at the end of the gestation period.
However, this procedure typically has a very low success rate, with only one or two of every 1000 embryos making it to adulthood. Successful human cloning was the subject of numerous false publications. There are no confirmed examples of successful human cloning up to this point.
Advantages Human Cloning
Human Cloning Might Provide Us With Fresh Approaches To Trauma Healing
Using a patient’s cells, interventional orthopedics is a non-surgical option that can assist treat an injury that results from a traumatic incident. Ligament sprains or strains usually recover with rest in six weeks or less. Applying a tissue graft is the main course of action when a tear occurs, particularly with ACL injuries. To aid the healing process, doctors position the new ligament at a steeper angle.
The current approach raises a patient’s risk of osteoarthritis and cartilage damage in later life. The cells could start to mend themselves through human cloning procedures. According to this knowledge, it may be possible for patients to recover more quickly since doctors can replicate the precise cells that the body needs.
Human Cloning May Result In New Medicinal Discoveries
The method of human cloning might contribute to new developments in medical research. By producing duplicate individuals, the potential for genetic material sharing could aid in the prevention or treatment of diseases that could endanger that person’s life.
Human Cloning Could Mitigate The Effects Of Diseases In A Way That Vaccines Cannot
Cystic fibrosis and thalassemia are two hereditary illnesses that may one day be cured thanks to human cloning. Additionally, genetic modification may aid in the treatment of difficult diseases like schizophrenia and heart disease. This scientific procedure might aid in the discovery of fresh strategies for halting or slowing the aging process.
To determine their lifetime potential as humans, babies would no longer need to participate in a genetic lottery before birth. Even the start of a global cost reduction for disease treatments due to human cloning is possible.
Human Cloning Might Enable Us To Improve The Situation For The Next Generation
The medical profession could learn about and treat the causes of many of the physical and mental disorders of today with the use of human cloning processes. Their lack of self-control can result in educational deficiencies that may affect them for the rest of their lives. As a result of not belonging to the same socioeconomic groupings as “normal” people, generates a natural inequality that may disadvantage their children.
Defective Genetic Profiles And Chromosomes Could Be Removed Through Human Cloning
An additional chromosome or one missing from a person is referred to as “aneuploidy.” Women who have children later in life are more likely to have a genetic disease. This conclusion can lead to a variety of disorders, including Patau and Edwards syndrome, in which the 13th or 18th chromosome has an extra copy.
Trisomy 13 or 18 babies typically pass away during the first year of life, and women who suffer from severe congenital defects may give birth still. Cloning humans would provide us with the technological means to stop these events from happening.
It Might Assist Couples In Resolving Infertility Issues
Human cloning can be used to produce children for couples who are unable to conceive naturally so they can have a genuine genetic relative. Because doctors could introduce each parent’s genetic makeup into an embryo outside of the body and theoretically grow the fetus in a laboratory setting, infertility might become a thing of the past.
This approach might be beneficial for nations with low birth rates, like Japan. In the absence of cloning policies, the population of Japan could decline by much to 40 million by the year 2060.
Human Cloning Might Increase Illness Resistance In Individuals
Once a natural resistance to ailments, diseases, and conditions is found in the general population, human cloning techniques may help to replicate it. Since mankind has been affected by diseases, there has always been a small number of individuals who are naturally resistant to particular illnesses. The CCR5 gene can mutate to provide HIV resistance naturally.
Researchers discovered that despite frequent contact with the Ebola virus, a group of women in West Africa had built-in protection against it. We can use these innate defenses provided by cloning humans to fortify our resistance to the diseases that strike us each year.
Human Cloning Would Make It Morally Acceptable For Us To Produce Stem Cells
Many of the stem cell lines used today were developed more than 20 years ago for research. With human cloning, we could create new cell lines from the current ones without affecting the possibility of life. Cloning is a technique for producing genetically identical cells, which may benefit people’s health, particularly if they have a rare genetic illness.
Human Cloning Might Help Us Prepare For Global Warming
Evolutionary processes enable us to start adjusting to the planet’s changing conditions, such as those related to global warming. Cloning humans would expedite the developmental cycles as natural selection tries to make humanity stronger, which would be advantageous to future generations.
By incorporating the genetic makeup of the most resilient people into new births, we may be able to build a civilization that is ready for the possible challenges that lie ahead.
Disadvantages Human Cloning
Human Cloning May Always Be An Inexact Science
A successful embryo is produced in roughly 1% of animal cloning attempts, under the best of circumstances, according to research. With little success, scientists have attempted to revive extinct species using collected cells; the majority of progeny die shortly after birth if they ever make it to that point at all. Even though Dolly the Sheep is a success story, several governments around the world have made it illegal to use human cells in this manner.
Cloning People Would Be An Expensive Technology First Reserved For The Affluent
Human cloning, especially in the early stages of this technology’s introduction, would increase classism rather than promote equality in our societies. Because those with money could afford more traits, extras, or processes for their clones than those who are struggling to put food on the table, our socioeconomic divides would still exist.
The people who could adopt this technology early would still have a major advantage over those who did not, even if everyone could afford to manufacture clones one day to support their families.
Cloning People Might Change How We View Individuality
Human cloning would result in the creation of at least two people who share the same genetic makeup. Each individual would have a unique brain and body, making them identical to one another in terms of their genomic profiles. Due to the physical similarities present, there would be questions about how each person would develop uniquely given their circumstances.
The people who oppose human cloning may begin to treat those who do so differently. This result might ultimately produce a world that might resemble the one depicted in the film Gattaca.
A Population That Is Quickly Aging Could Result From Human Cloning
A child’s genome accumulates genetic information as they develop. We are aware that cloning is a possibility, but we do not yet fully comprehend how the data in our DNA might change throughout this procedure. Giving mature cells to embryos could raise questions about unexpected aging if age imprinting occurs at the genetic level. New genetic disorders and an increase in the risk of early death could result from this process.
Our Genetic Makeup’s Diversity Would Decline If Humans Could Be Cloned
A species enters a “bottleneck” when there are only a small number of distinctive genetic specimens left, which puts their survival in grave jeopardy. To lessen the likelihood that illnesses would develop as a result of our tight interpersonal connections, we want diversity within our DNA. The Ashkenazi Jewish population’s health demands serve as proof of this possible disadvantage.
When people maintain the same genetic makeup, some disorders are more likely to occur. When a genetic bottleneck happens in humans, the probability of developing long-term illnesses such as Tay-Sachs disease, cystic fibrosis, and spinal muscular atrophy is 10%.
Women Would Be Exploited As A Result Of Human Cloning
The availability of enough viable embryos for researchers to exploit is the only requirement before we can start cloning people. To generate an adequate number of viable stem cell lines, researchers would need to make enough cloned fetuses. After that, an invasive procedure to remove eggs would be necessary to start the embryo-making process.
At the start of IVF treatments, up to 5% of women may experience hyperstimulation, even in the best-case scenario scenarios of today. It is a side effect that, in rare instances, results in infertility, persistent abdominal pain, and issues with reproductive health.
Human Experience Still Includes Activated Cells
Therapeutic human cloning might help us learn more about medicine that we can employ in the future, but the expenses might be too great to see any gains from this strategy.
Cloning People Might Alter Our Perspective On Loss And Unexpected Grief
Approximately 15,000 children under the age of five perish every day in the world in which we live. Although this number has significantly decreased since the 1990s, when it exceeded 34,000, it is still far too high. A kid under the age of 15 dies every five seconds on average, and the mortality rate in the nations with the highest rates is 60 times greater than in the nations with the lowest rates. Cloning people might alter how these parents deal with their loss because it would allow them to have an exact clone.
The new offspring would appear and possibly behave the same, even though it wouldn’t be the same child. It might seem as though the first loss never occurred if the parents gave this clone the same name. This way of thinking about life may gradually devalue it to the point that we react apathetically to negative events. Simply go create a replacement.
