Cloning

Cloning

Bioethics, which is the study of value judgments pertaining to

human conduct in the area of biology and includes those related to the

practice of medicine, has been an important aspect of all areas in the

scientific field (Bernstein, Maurice, M.D.). It is one of the factors

that says whether or not specific scientific research can go on, and if

it can, by which rules, regulations and guidelines it must abide by.

One of the most recent and controversial issues facing our society today

is the concept of cloning. On February 23, 1997, Ian Wilmut, a Scottish

scientist, along with his colleagues at the Roslin Institute and PPL

Therapeutics, announced to the world that they had cloned a lamb, which

they named Dolly, after Dolly Parton, from an adult sheep

(Mario,Christopher). The two share the same nucleic DNA, but differ in

terms of their mitochondrial DNA, which is vitally important for the

regulation of the cell.

Clone Trooper vs. Spider-Man Clone (93/365)

Dolly Parton at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

Dolly Parton at the Kahala Hilton Hotel, Honolulu,...

The media and the press ignored this fact, and

thus claimed that Dolly and her 'mother' were genetically identical,

which sparked a fury of outcry all around the world. The technique of

transferring a nucleus from a somatic cell into an egg cell of which the

nucleus had been removed, called nuclear transplantation, is an

extension of research that had been ongoing for over 40 years.

Up until now, scientists thought that adult cells could not be

"reprogrammed" to behave like a fertilized egg and create an embryo, but

the evidence obtained by Dolly's success prove otherwise. The issues of

cloning have been around for a long time, starting with the publication

of Joshua Lederberg's 1966 article on cloning in the American

Naturalist. The public's interest has been perked by many sci-fi books,

films, and movies including Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave...