Cloning Case

As the technology used to clone mammals improves, it becomes more and more likely that humans could one day be clones as well. Clones are genetically identical organisms. This, in simpler terms, means that every single piece of DNA is exactly the same between the 'clones' which causes them to have exactly the same features. Clones are completely possible and the study of animal clones can lead to greater understanding of age and age-related disorders.

The first cloned mammal was Dolly the sheep, cloned in 1996. This experiment is probably one of the most controversial in the science of cloning. The procedure involved implanting a nucleus from one sheep into the egg cell of another, and therefore cloning the sheep from which the nucleus was from.

The British Organ Donor Society (BODY) supports cloning efforts to relieve the strain of the lack of organs that are available. Cloning technology is expected to aid the result in several medical breakthroughs, like the first-ever malaria or the use of stem cells. It is thought that there may one day be a cure for cancer. This is because the cloning process helps us understand the process of cell differentiation. Theories exist that if a cure for cancer can be found, then further testing may lead to a cure for heart attacks and cloning organs for organ transplantation. Scientists believe that they may be able to treat heart attack victims by cloning their healthy heart cells and injecting them into the areas of the heart that have been damaged. The cloning of organs would eliminate individuals waiting on a list for an organ transplant. Skin for burn victims, brain cells for the brain damaged, spinal cord cells for quadriplegics and paraplegics, hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys could be produced. By combining this technology with human cloning it may be possible to produce needed tissue for suffering people that will be free of rejection by their immune systems.