Human and Animal Reproductive Cloning Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

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Human and Animal Reproductive Cloning
Breakthroughs in medical research often elicit ambivalent reactions from all quarters of society. In most cases, new technologies in the medical realm end up polarizing society into proponents and opponents of the developments. The main issues of concern relating to advancements in medical research often revolve around the safety of the technologies and their moral soundness. A typical example of a medical research development that continues to elicit acute criticism is cloning. Since its discovery in the 20th century, cloning has taken center stage as one of the most controversial medical developments of all time. Numerous attempts have been made at cloning animals and humans, but only a few verifiable cases have made notable progress. This research paper thus seeks to examine the concept of human and animal reproductive cloning with the aim of investigating the tenets of this concept and the perspective of society on the issue, ranging from ethical, scientific, and biological points of view.
Historical Overview and Status of Cloning
Cloning as a medical technology is considered relatively new in the public domain. According to UNESCO (7), the term ‘clone’ was initially used in early 20th century botanical endeavors that were aimed at developing plant grafts. Over the years, the term’s use evolved to involve the development of animals from a single parent organism. Cloning is thus the development of an almost genetically identical organism from another organism (Human Genetic Alert 2). Animal cloning started taking shape noticeably in 1952 when scientists Robert Briggs and Thomas King decided to experiment with frogs (UNESCO 8). Their experiments were inspired by the work of a German embryologist, Hans Spemann, who had earlier on done some laboratory work on the possibility of somatic cell nuclear transfer using salamanders (UNESCO 8). Applying the same technology to mammals proved tricky for scientists until 1997 when Dolly, the world’s first cloned mammal was successfully delivered (Nordgren 279). Since then, several animals species such as cows, pigs, mice, rats, rabbits, cats, mules, horses and dogs have been successfully clowned (Nordgren 279).
Research on animal cloning is still ongoing because previous attempts have yielded clones that are plagued with defects and malformations. Dolly, the sheep that was cloned by Scottish scientists under the guidance of Ian Wilmut, survived for just six years and was then euthanized due to lung related complications and premature arthritis associated with older sheep (UNESCO 11). The latest development in cloning was when Snuppy, the first cloned dog was successfully delivered after over one thousand attempts (Nordgren 279). Dogs and primates have been a subject of attention for scientists for quite a long time since successfully cloning them has been elusive.
Cloning Techniques and Processes
According to the German Ethics Council (hereafter GEC) (17), there are several techniques that can be used to artificially produce balstocysts, but only two are applicable for animal and human cloning. The two possible techniques are embryo splitting and nuclear transfer (GEC 17). In embryo splitting, the scientists imitate the natural process through which monozygotic twins are formed, and the technique can yield up to several from a single embryo (GEC 17). The technique is only fit for cloning species such as mice, rats, rabbits and sheep among others.
Cell nuclear transfer, on the other hand, involves the use of two cells so that one of them an egg cell or oocyte acts as the receptor and the other cell, the donor cell, provides the nucleus (GEC 18). The nucleus of the oocyte is removed to give room for the nucleus from the donor cell, but the oocyte provides the components necessary for embryo development (GEC 18). Once the nucleus from the donor cell has been implanted into the oocyte, the egg cell has been ‘fertilized’ and is thus technically, an embryo ready for development. It is then implanted into a surrogate parent who bears it through the gestation period to delivery (GEC 18).
Possibilities of Cloning a Human Being
The possibility of cloning human beings, though a subject of research for a long time, still seems remote. Of the scientists who have claimed to successfully clone human embryos, only those from Advanced Cell Technologies, an American organization, published a scientific paper in 2001 to show that they had carried out research to that effect (Human Genetic Alert 2). Of the embryos that were cloned, the most well developed only reached six cells (Human Genetic Alert 2). Many other claims that have been put forth remain unsubstantiated. Claims of successful human cloning include South Korean scientists’ claim that they had successfully created human embryo clones only for their laboratory to be closed by their government, a claim by Chinese scientists that they had cloned several human embryos and persistent claims by Professor Severino Antinori (Italy) and Panayiotis Zavos (US) that they planned to develop cloned babies (Human Genetic Alert 2). The Raelians, a Canadian religious sect also made unsubstantiated claims of successfully cloning several children (Human Genetic Alert 3).
Though documentation on human cloning is scarce, it is possible to deduce from the successful attempts of cloning other animals that it is not easy to come up with a normal clone, let alone a human clone. Dolly, the most famous clone was successfully delivered after 227 attempts, 29 of which were successfully implanted into surrogate parents, but Dolly was the only survivor (Nordgren 279). Snuppy, the first successfully cloned dog came to be after 1095 attempts of which 123 implantations were made, but they yielded only two live births of which Snuppy was the only survivor (Nordgren 279). This information proves beyond doubt that creating a clone is no mean task.
From the existing statistics, although the few attempts that have been successful seem to show that cloning is possible, it has been reported that the success rates stand at about 5% for some species, but a slow as 1% for others (Lane 126). The German Ethics Council (21), notes that the failure rates of cloning are about 96% implying a success rate of only 4%. It is important to note that what has been documented refers only to the animal species that have so far been successfully cloned. Those that have not been successfully cloned, especially monkeys, are primates like humans. Logically, if a monkey or any other primate is yet to be successfully cloned, it can only mean that humans are even more difficult to clone. Nonetheless, the breakthrough that was recently reported on dog cloning, which had proved elusive alongside primates, is a positive indicator that there is progress and in the future, primates may successfully be cloned.
The German Ethics Council (20) notes that currently, the primary obstacle in primate cloning lies in the fact that a primate egg cell has some essential protein structures located so proximately to the cell nucleus that the removal of the nucleus to give room for a transplant interferes with their ability to catalyze cell division. This eliminates the cell’s ability to replicate and grow. This has impaired the researchers’ ability to produce successful primate clones, but research is ongoing. Human cloning, however, may take longer to be achieved because the scientific community generally perceives it as unacceptable so that those who do any research in this area, do so amid protests from many quarters. This can also be viewed as a factor that can impede research in the line of human cloning.
Ethical Issues surrounding Reproductive Cloning of Animals and Humans
From an ethical perspective, opponents of cloning argue that cloning is an attempt at playing God and controlling nature, and that is not acceptable (Human Genetic Alerts 7). It is considered a violation of human rights and serious undermining of human dignity to experiment with humans as has been the case with other animals. For instance, as noted earlier, the first successfully cloned dog Snuppy, was obtained after over one thousand attempts which only gave two live births, but only one survived. The same was th...