Origin of reproductive cloning The idea of artificial cloning is as old as human civilization, where Cohen and Wellman (2005) assert that the word clone is derived from a Greek word meaning twig. This comes from the ancient Greek practice of taking a twig from one plant and either grafting it to another or rooting it to produce a new plant or shrub. Cohen (2002) observes that the idea of human reproductive cloning can be dated back to the year 1934 when before that cloning was completely unknown in vertebrates.
The year 1934 is distinct in that a team of scientists from the University of Michigan found a population of fish in Northern Mexico that was entirely female. The species known as the Amazon molly is related to the more familiar tropical molly. This brought about the knowledge that animal reproductive cloning in nature was not uncommon to the vertebrates, hence the development of scientific interest in the field. Frogs became the first multicellular animals to be used for artificial reproductive cloning in the 1950s.
Cohen (2002) observes that the frogs were preferred as a result of the abundant availability of their eggs which are also huge compared with eggs from mammals. The theoretical part was done earlier as far as the 1930s, where Cohen (2002) states that the Nobel laureate Hans Superman, who laid much of the theoretical basis observed that the technical bit was the hardest that remained an illusion for long. Two decades later the frog nucleus from different eggs could be successfully transplanted to a new frog egg and successfully hatch.
Still this was far from modern day reproductive cloning that has become more sophisticated. Cohen (2002) observes that the experimental frog eggs hatched and developed into tadpoles but all died before adult hood. The experimentation with the frogs led scientists to have the need to further their horizons, this is stated by Cohen and Wellman (2005) who state that in 1979, cell biologist Robert Gilmore Mckinnell, who had been actively involved in the frog experiments, observed that frogs were cloned some time ago, what about human cloning.
At the time Mckinnell thought human cloning will not be so soon if at all it will ever succeed. He saw it as a challenge that will be hard to tackle, but just like mountain climbers respond to physical challenge, therefore it will not be surprising that some biologists will respond to the challenge of human cloning. Hayry et al (2005) observe that embryonic cloning has been used with human embryos since 1993. The technique involves embryo splitting which is artificially doing what happens naturally when an embryo splits into two or more to produce identical twins.
The reproductive cloning took a new dimension when Dolly a sheep was cloned using nuclear transfer. The birth of the first ever cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep Hayry et al (2005) argues that led to the people around the world condemning human cloning as an absolute wrong. The debate surrounding human reproductive cloning Human dignity The question of whether cloning is against human dignity has been raised by many quarters. This is manifest in the existence of a number of international protocols against cloning considering cloning to be against human dignity.
Hayry et al (2005) observe that to replicate any human by technological means is against the basic dignity of the uniqueness of each human being in God’s sight. This translates to cloning as undermining human dignity as given by God, therefore no one else should compromise that dignity in any way. The debate of cloning as hampering the human dignity as given by God is widely cited by the various world religions in their fight against cloning. This does not imply that the secular are left behind.
According to the National Academy of Sciences (2002) in their statement against cloning observe: Data on the reproductive cloning of animals through the use of nuclear transplantation technology demonstrate that only a small percentage of attempts are successful; that many of the clones die during gestation, even in late stages; that newborn clones are often abnormal or die; and that the procedures may carry serious risks for the mother.
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