The Cloning Debate

Before the famous Dolly the Sheep, cloning was not quite what it is considered today. The first example that could be considered “cloning” took place in 1885. Hans Adolf Edward Dreisch discovered that if he shook the two-celled embryos of sea urchins, the cells could separate and grow into two identical sea urchins.
A couple decades later in 1902, Hans Spemann decided to find out if he could do the same, this time with salamander embryos. These embryos were stickier than those of sea urchins so Spemann took a strand of baby hair to wrap around the embryos and tighten until they split into two. This lead to the same result of the previous experiment only with salamanders instead of sea urchins. When Spemann tried to split more advanced embryos,
When asked why these people did not support cloning, 34 percent believed that it was against their religion, 22 percent believed that it interfered with distinctiveness and individuality, another 22 percent were concerned that cloning could be used for questionable purposes, 14 percent were worried about the technology used, 5 percent had a different reason not previously mentioned, and 3 percent were just against it for an unknown reason. People are concerned scientists are “playing God” and these creatures are abominations. The question of ethics is often brought up to surround this topic, the quality of life for the clones is a big issue. Clones do not live as long as their “original copy” and often suffer more genetic disorders as well as other health issues (1). Other people worry that if human clones came into existence, they might be treated as second class citizens or be locked up waiting for their organs to be harvested. For these reasons, “Scientific organizations like the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences have spoken in favor of a ban on human cloning until it can be done safely.” (7). However, most scientists are in favor of cloning, as long as it is under strict government control and ethical review. Others look forward to bringing extinct animals back into existence and helping endangered creatures from that fate. Although the ethics of cloning is still up to debate, the new outcoming science behind it is truly fascinating and time will only tell what will be