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Imagine a world where everyone is extra strong, never ages, and is immune to every disease. This sounds like a science fiction movie, but cloning has promised many of these same results. Cloning is said to be the opening door into an endless world of possibilities. Are humans ready for these possibilities? Are all these possibilities good or bad outcomes? These are questions that cannot fully be answered at this time. Therefore, cloning is a very controversial topic since there are people fighting on both sides. Which side should win? I believe cloning could open many rewarding doors, but since we do not know the full effects from cloning humans I feel that we are not ready to clone humans. For a person to truly fight for one side, they would need to know a little background, the benefits, and the risks of cloning humans.
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Imagine a world where everyone is extra strong, never ages, and is immune to every disease. This sounds like a science fiction movie, but cloning has promised many of these same results. Cloning is said to be the opening door into an endless world of possibilities. Are humans ready for these possibilities? Are all these possibilities good or bad outcomes? These are questions that cannot fully be answered at this time. Therefore, cloning is a very controversial topic since there are people fighting on both sides. Which side should win? I believe cloning could open many rewarding doors, but since we do not know the full effects from cloning humans I feel that we are not ready to clone humans. For a person to truly fight for one side, they would need to know a little background, the benefits, and the risks of cloning humans.2
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What is cloning? According to Dictionary.com a clone is something that has the identical genetic makeup of what it was created from. Therefore, cloning is taking DNA from one or more organisms and forming one new product which is genetically identical to the donors. Thefreedictionary.com states that DNA, Deoxyribonucleic acid, is “a nucleic acid that carries the genetic information in the cell and is capable of self-replication.” Cloning to many people seems like an idea in the future, but in fact, cloning has been going on for millions of years. Some plants, bacterial, animals, and insects are asexually, a form of natural cloning, which means they make identical offspring as their form of reproducing. An example of natural cloning is the starfish if a starfish is broke into multiple pieces; each piece will goes back the parts it is missing. The first human made cloning was in 1952 when Robert Biggs and Thomas King created tadpoles from creating embryos. In the 1970s Rudolf Jaenisch produced mice that had been injected with human leukemia viruses. The mice showed that leukemia DNA sequences had integrated in their genome and also was passed down to their offspring (Rudolf Jaenisch). In 1996, Dolly was created by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues in Scotland; Dolly became famous since she was the first mammal cloned from adult somatic cells (Cloning Dolly the sheep).
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What is cloning? According to Dictionary.com a clone is something that has the identical genetic makeup of what it was created from. Therefore, cloning is taking DNA from one or more organisms and forming one new product which is genetically identical to the donors. Thefreedictionary.com states that DNA, Deoxyribonucleic acid, is “a nucleic acid that carries the genetic information in the cell and is capable of self-replication.” Cloning to many people seems like an idea in the future, but in fact, cloning has been going on for millions of years. Some plants, bacterial, animals, and insects are asexually, a form of natural cloning, which means they make identical offspring as their form of reproducing. An example of natural cloning is the starfish if a starfish is broke into multiple pieces; each piece will goes back the parts it is missing. The first human made cloning was in 1952 when Robert Biggs and Thomas King created tadpoles from creating embryos. In the 1970s Rudolf Jaenisch produced mice that had been injected with human leukemia viruses. The mice showed that leukemia DNA sequences had integrated in their genome and also was passed down to their offspring (Rudolf Jaenisch). In 1996, Dolly was created by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues in Scotland; Dolly became famous since she was the first mammal cloned from adult somatic cells (Cloning Dolly the sheep).3
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Cloning could provide many benefits to humans. If a couple loses their newborn son in a car accident, they could clone him and have the life they were suppose to have. Cloning could perhaps lead to immortality. Some experts believe if we understand how cloning works to an extent we could perhaps turn the clock back on people, and actually reverse their age process. Some people are born infertile which could make a person depressed because they could not serve their part in society as a man or a woman, but cloning could cure the problem of infertility. A couple that one or two of them is infertile could have a child together using their DNA to create a hybrid clone of themselves. Many people have died in hospitals waiting for a heart, kidney, liver, or any other organ which could have been avoided with cloning. People would no longer have to hope and stress about receiving a donor since we would be able to clone the organs the person needs. Many people also believe that their place as a parent is to make their children better than they are. After we study clones, we could perhaps give our children the ability to live longer and be resistant to fatal sicknesses. If someone thought they had the wrong life because they worked too much, they could produce a clone and give all of their money to it when they passed on, so the clone could reap the benefits from their creator’s life and lead the life the person was suppose to live (Human Cloning Foundation).
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Cloning could provide many benefits to humans. If a couple loses their newborn son in a car accident, they could clone him and have the life they were suppose to have. Cloning could perhaps lead to immortality. Some experts believe if we understand how cloning works to an extent we could perhaps turn the clock back on people, and actually reverse their age process. Some people are born infertile which could make a person depressed because they could not serve their part in society as a man or a woman, but cloning could cure the problem of infertility. A couple that one or two of them is infertile could have a child together using their DNA to create a hybrid clone of themselves. Many people have died in hospitals waiting for a heart, kidney, liver, or any other organ which could have been avoided with cloning. People would no longer have to hope and stress about receiving a donor since we would be able to clone the organs the person needs. Many people also believe that their place as a parent is to make their children better than they are. After we study clones, we could perhaps give our children the ability to live longer and be resistant to fatal sicknesses. If someone thought they had the wrong life because they worked too much, they could produce a clone and give all of their money to it when they passed on, so the clone could reap the benefits from their creator’s life and lead the life the person was suppose to live (Human Cloning Foundation).4
With all these wonderful benefits why would anyone be against cloning? To start cloning humans we would cross a line that could not be uncrossed. If we were to clone a human we would have to expect all the outcomes that the animal experiments had. Although Dolly has been known for being a perfect clone, it turns out she was not as special as we all hoped. Alice Park from TIMES magazine stated, “A decade later, scientists are starting to come to grips with just how different Dolly was. Dozens of animals have been cloned since that first little lamb–mice, cats, cows, pigs, horses and, most recently, a dog–and it’s becoming increasingly clear that they are all, in one way or another, defective.” Making a clone is very expensive and time consuming. Therefore, if we spent all that time and money and failed, cloning would not be very effective. In fact, less than ten percent of clone offspring are feasible. Recently, calves were attempted to be cloned. After nine thousand attempts were made, only seventy calves were created, and over thirty percent of them died young (Human Genome Program). After we clone hundreds of humans, we will be faced with the problem of deciding what to do with all the abnormal offspring. Not to mention the over populated world we live in today, if we cloned humans we would have the problem of overcrowding growing at an exponential rate. Some people would also want to create a perfect human; for example, a human with blonde hair, blue eyes, intelligent, ect. If this was done, what would make these traits special anymore? For that matter, if everyone looked the same, how would anyone be special?
With all these wonderful benefits why would anyone be against cloning? To start cloning humans we would cross a line that could not be uncrossed. If we were to clone a human we would have to expect all the outcomes that the animal experiments had. Although Dolly has been known for being a perfect clone, it turns out she was not as special as we all hoped. Alice Park from TIMES magazine stated, “A decade later, scientists are starting to come to grips with just how different Dolly was. Dozens of animals have been cloned since that first little lamb–mice, cats, cows, pigs, horses and, most recently, a dog–and it’s becoming increasingly clear that they are all, in one way or another, defective.” Making a clone is very expensive and time consuming. Therefore, if we spent all that time and money and failed, cloning would not be very effective. In fact, less than ten percent of clone offspring are feasible. Recently, calves were attempted to be cloned. After nine thousand attempts were made, only seventy calves were created, and over thirty percent of them died young (Human Genome Program). After we clone hundreds of humans, we will be faced with the problem of deciding what to do with all the abnormal offspring. Not to mention the over populated world we live in today, if we cloned humans we would have the problem of overcrowding growing at an exponential rate. Some people would also want to create a perfect human; for example, a human with blonde hair, blue eyes, intelligent, ect. If this was done, what would make these traits special anymore? For that matter, if everyone looked the same, how would anyone be special?5
Taking a side on cloning is a person’s given right to do, but picking a side is not ethical or responsible without understand cloning in detail. After hearing a little about the process, the pros, and the cons of cloning, making an informed decision about being for or against human cloning should be much easier. Even with all the benefits, human cloning is simply not ready to be done. Not only is the scientific world not ready for human cloning, society is not ready. There are too many questions that have not been answered with the cloning so far to continue on with humans.
Taking a side on cloning is a person’s given right to do, but picking a side is not ethical or responsible without understand cloning in detail. After hearing a little about the process, the pros, and the cons of cloning, making an informed decision about being for or against human cloning should be much easier. Even with all the benefits, human cloning is simply not ready to be done. Not only is the scientific world not ready for human cloning, society is not ready. There are too many questions that have not been answered with the cloning so far to continue on with humans.
I like the way you started this, because in a way all of those things sound too good to be true. And that’s all people really think about, I’m glad you picked this topic because it is really interesting!
I was actually wondering this today before I even read this artical. If a clone was created do you see it as being a human? I know this is moving into the religious direction but would it have a soul? Also do you think we would have discrimination problems?
The first statement in the beginning of the paragraph, about if a couple lost a child could just clone another child, really makes me think about if we did clone the child would it still be our child or would we always see it as a copy.
I really like your tittle. Is really funny and makes me want to read it. The way you worded the opening paragarph is good it seems like a commerical or a trailer for a movie making you read the rest to find out all the information. I say your topic is good.
I think I would be scared to see someone who is exactly like me. I would be kind of jealous because they wouldn’t ever die or get sick or get hurt. I don’t think that should happen. That would freak me out a little too much. But then again, if I never saw my clone or just never knew about it, then it wouldn’t really be a problem.
I think this is a great opening. I think adding this alog with the title you have it’s a great catch to what’s about to come. It definitely fulfills its purpose as opening paragraph. Nice Job!!
i liked your first paragraph but you didn’t tell us what your side is. I mean its obvious what your side is according to your title, by the way hilarious, but didn’t state where you side in the paragraph.
I agree with MPS901, without a title you’re first paragraph gives the audience no insight to where you stand. As for the second paragraph, using big words makes me want to shake my head and push the paper aside as I cannot follow the text. DNA is a common term, in a more scientific paper you could spell it out, but for a paper with a somewhat dumber audience probably isn’t necessary. I should also remark that you mention Dolly in your fourth paragraph as if the reader automatically knows who you’re talking about. Average readers will need a bit of background on who exactly this “Dolly” is. I do like your paper though.
Why would a couple want 2 clone a child that they have lost?? It wouldn’t be the same and it’s not right. If it is a person’s time to die then I think there isn’t anything to save them. Cloning wouldn’t be good because what is meant to happen is going to happen.
srm902, what if your baby died because your house cought on fire, or died in a car wreck. Something that you thought you should of stopped. Then you would feel as if the baby’s death was your fault and shouldnt of happened.
I really like the title, it draws me into reading this paper. i aslo like the firs paragragh it a strong introduction.
I like your title.
“The mice passed down their human traits to their offspring.” Please explain this statement. I’m imagining little cartoon mice walking around like humans!
You have a really good argument. Go back through and check for small errors, maybe typos. Overall, I enjoyed reading this.