You need to know where your from. I am not entirely sure whom it was to say that line, but is it not true in many respects? One subject to cross my mind in recent times is the whole Cloning issue. There are many arguments both for and against the whole idea, Cloning, Stem Cell Research, the whole idea of ‘playing god’ But how can you ‘play’ the part of someone who doesn’t exist? Or if he does actually exist, is it wrong to cover his role while he’s lying on a beach in some distant cosmos drowning in his sorrows?

Dolly the sheep had many different problems, as the first ever clone of an animal. Stem cell research is conducted on cloned human embryo’s, opening a debate to whether or not it is ethical as these embryo’s introduce the possibility of ‘evolving’ or ‘growing’ into humans, like me or you. The team that conducted the Dolly experiment backed down and agreed that there methods where not as agreeable as those of Professor Shinya Yamanaka, a Japanese professor working for the Kyoto University. The technique he developed modifies adult skin fragment cells so that they become virtually as flexible as stem cells, which come from Embryo’s. Yamanaka has been experimenting on lab mice.

But no matter what the experimental way is, the debate will always be a tedious one, is it ethical? My opinion? Yes.

The list as to what this research could cure is somewhat endless. The possibilities delve deep into curing Infertility, Baldness, Liver and Kidney failure, Heart failure, leukaemia, Parkinsons Disease, Alzheimer’s, Cancer. It will maintain endangered species, lending to the possibility of cloning raw materials needed by the human population to live, food, water. Conducting re constructive surgery. The possibilities are pushing endless, it is vital research towards the furthering of the human race.

The against arguements with cloning are, for a main one, it took hundreds of attempts before Dolly the sheep was successfully cloned, and then the life span was somewhat shortened. But as the dolly team then decided, that Professor Yamanaka was onto something. Another argument, also a scientific one, is that genetic diversity provides the variations of a population. Inbreeding animals constantly result in reduced variations and an increase in defects. Such as with dogs, Mutts tend to be healthier and Pure-bred dogs.

Then there is the religious side. ‘Playing God’ is bad. Or is it? Everyone is loved equally in the eyes of god, so why shouldn’t clones?

Although producing clones of the greatest minds on the planet would help further our technological and scientific advancement, greatly, although it would have to be in a controlled environment, as to produce an Einstein, not a Hitler.

The argument is somewhat endless, personally, even looked upon as dropping ethical values, i believe that cloning should be more widely supported and funded, the possibilities, by far, outweigh the negatives.

How does everyone else feel?

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Tags: Cloning, Dolly the sheep, Playing God, Professor Shinya Yamanaka, Stem Cell Research

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Technology And Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.