At the beginning of the second half of the 90s of the last century, when information about the birth of the cloned sheep Dolly appeared, it was clear to many: the day of human cloning was near. But it’s definitely not that simple. How does humanity live today and solve not only this biological-technical but also ethical problem?
Dolly the sheep literally became a world sensation in 1996. He was born after the cloning of an adult cell, which until then seemed unthinkable. The little lamb became world famous immediately after its birth. From then on, people expected more advances leading to the cloning of the human himself. What do scientists expect from such progress? It is said that genetically determined diseases can be eradicated by selecting only cells suitable for cloning. On the other hand, you should always have a big red exclamation mark on your head. As we know very well, every advancement, even if it is initially driven by the best of intentions, has sooner or later managed to exploit humanity. And so it may be in this case. This is why many experts still sound the alarm and oppose human cloning efforts.
Read also
Read also
The world’s largest living organism is the size of Washington and is the clones themselves
How to clone a person?
Cloning is essentially the creation of a perfect copy of the original, that is, the original, the individual. According to scientific possibilities, an attempt to clone a human being would probably be a so-called reproductive cloning method using the skin cells of an adult. Her DNA had to be stripped of her genetic information and transplanted into a donor egg. In theory, things could then proceed similarly to the artificial insemination processes already common today. But is it that simple?
Human clones would not be completely identical individuals
Ethics is against it
So at the moment it seems that while medicine can technically deal with the problem of human cloning, of course, after further research, the ethical side of the issue is more problematic than the biological side. Proponents of eugenics, that is, to put it simply, the gradual “production” of essentially perfect human beings, could begin to rub their hands together. Similar interventions have been carried out in the past, for example by the Nazis, and we all know how it turned out. Moreover, attempts to clone mammals so far have been associated with high mortality of either the fetus or the animals at birth. As for humans, no one could and would not take such a risk.
Same but different…
What exactly is a clone? He is an individual with the same genetic makeup as the donor of the DNA. But as Hank Greely, professor of law and genetics at Stanford University, points out, we can’t imagine that two such people would behave in the same way. “They don’t share the same traits like personality, morals or sense of humor. It would be unique to each such person.” he previously told the Live Science website that the development of each person is influenced not only by genetics, but also by the environment in which he grows and develops. In this case, human clones would be exactly the same as the rest of us, thought normally.
It will go differently
One of the reasons that supporters of human cloning support their views is the possibility of using such clones for medical purposes. While the idea of a donor “growing” a new organ into a new individual for possible donation may seem counterintuitive, for some people this is not realistic. Fortunately, this is answered by reports from Japan, where scientists have managed to return adult cells to the embryonic stage (mice so far, but this is progress). These can then be used for therapeutic purposes. If in the future the same miracle was achieved with human cells, the possibilities of human medicine would jump to an incredible distance. Even without cloning people.
Resources: www.livescience.com, www.express.co.uk, www.mybiosource.com
Read also
