4. Cloning

1. Most of us have heard about cloning and have some idea about what it might be.

Cloning is seen in movies, books, on the TV and in newspa­pers, but what is it really?

Cloning is basically making a genetic copy of something. This might be copying just one cell, or it could be a whole ani­mal. A guy called Herbert Webber, from the US Department of Agriculture, invented the word "clon" in the early 20^th century to describe plants that are genetically the same as their par­ents. Pretty soon "clon" became "clone", and slowly the word became part of the English language.

Scientists have been effectively cloning animals since the early 1960s. An Asian carp was cloned successfully in 1963; ten years later, a Chinese scientist Tong Dizhou also cloned a European crucian carp.

The biggest star in the cloning world is a sheep named Dol­ly. In 1996, Scottish scientists cloned Dolly from an adult sheep. This was the first time this had been done for a mammal. When Dolly was born the scientists made a fuller check of Dolly and found that she was genetically the same as the Finn Dorset which 'donated' the DNA. Dolly was therefore a clone.

In February 2003, Dolly, the world's first animal cloned from an adult cell, died.

Dolly had lived for six years and had given birth normally to four lambs, however scientists become worried about her health in January 2002 when she was diagnosed with a form of lung disease. Later, several hundred other Dollies were cloned.

The cows were cloned in 1998 and duplicated several thou­sand times. Made in Japan, the cows pave the way for other clones engineered to produce better meat and milk.

Labs have been experimenting on modifying pigs so that they can grow cells and organs that humans can use. Millie and her sisters (if you can call them that) were cloned in 2000 by a US-based company.

In December 2001, scientists in Texas cloned a domestic cat, known as Cc (for Carbon copy) and it is the first time anyone has cloned a pet. The research was launched by Genetic Saving & Clone, a California company that hoped to make^- money by cloning people's favourite dead or sick pets.

Cc was the only surviving animal of 87 kitten embryos cre­ated by cloning and 'appears healthy and energetic' say re­searchers at Texas Agricultural & Manufacturing University.

DNA tests have proved that Cc is a perfect genetic copy of her mother Rainbow. However this has not meant that Cc is ac­tually anything like her mother. As it turns out they do not act or even look alike. Rainbow is white with splotches of brown, tan and gold, while Cc has a striped grey coat over white, Rain­bow is shy whereas Cc is curious and playful.

So cloning won't bring back your precious pet - however there are other reasons for cloning cats. Mark Westhusin, a member of the cloning team, said there were serious scientific reasons for cloning a cat: 'Cats have an animal AIDS that is a good model for studying human AIDS.'

Now that cloning has been shown to be possible with mam­mals, people are getting really interested in cloning a special mammal - humans.

Some people might be surprised to learn that human clones already exist. These clones aren't created in a lab, they occur naturally every day all over the world. In case you haven't guessed, twins are the naturally occurring human clones. They're genetically different from their parents, but they are genetically identical to each other.

Not everyone thinks cloning humans is a good idea. A se­nior staff member at the Roslin Institute, who were responsible for creating Dolly, has said that human cloning projects are criminally irresponsible. Part of the reason for this is the low success rate in cloning. With Dolly there were 276 other at­tempts at creating a clone before they were successful.

Several governments around the world have banned public money being spent on human cloning research. In the US and Australia there is a ban on federal funding for human cloning research, with discussion on a full ban on human cloning in the US being undertaken.

2. Attitude to cloning

Cloning animals opens exciting medical possibilities. Many people are in need of organs for transplantation. But it isn’t easy to get such organs as, for example, heart, liver or kidneys. Cloning can solve this problem.

Many animals are on the brink of extinction. Cloning can be used to preserve them.

Besides, Scientists can create animals which produce more milk, meat and wool, or animals which don’t catch certain diseases. This can save the lives of starving people.

Cloning animals opens exciting medical possibilities. Besides, cloning could be used to replace family members who have died in accidents.

Cloning human body parts still requires a lot more time, effort, and money before it will save people. If human cloning is completely banned, then this type of research would be stopped and a lot of lives would be lost. But there are uncertain genetic consequences: many of the early animal clones had clinical problems derived from genetic effects. For example, old age illnesses in the youthful Dolly the sheep

We should not forget that we are human beings that have moral values. Once everyone of us started as an embryo. Now we are alive, not destroyed. Who made a decision to save our lives?”.

We are human beings, not material for research. We cannot be cloned. Only God can create us and take our lives. We must stop the research of cloning. It may lead us to unpredictable future.

Cloning is a controversial issue. Some people are ready to eat cloned fruits and vegetables, but many people are against cloning animals. They think it is morally unacceptable. The question of human cloning is even more controversial.

Suppose we cloned a man. Are we really sure he will be a man? Who will be responsible for him? Who will bring him up? Will he be happy? Will he have the same rights as we have?

What would happen if a dictator, someone like Hitler, cloned himself? Would we be able to survive?

So what is your opinion?

CLONING
FOR Cloning gives us a chance to …	AGAINST Cloning
- Create animals with desirable agricultural qualities - Build population of endangered / extinct species - Grow tissues to replace injured & diseased ones - Help childless couples - Test drugs & develop new treatment strategies	- May lead to various defects in vital organs & problems with immune system - Can create genetic monsters - Mutations might lead to cancer & new illnesses - Create a human that is genetically identical to another person – dictator? - Be against principals of individual freedom & identity

Сonclusion

1. Some medical problems could be solved.

2. Mankind could have the opportunity to live a longer life.

3. Mankind could solve the problem of feeding starving people.

4. But cloning is a controversial issue: there are some moral aspects in the problem

5. It is one of the most important discovery of the XX century.

6. It showed the common nature of all living beings, & nonliving beings.

7. It gave way to gene engineering.

8. It showed the importance of intelligent & moral development of mankind.