Science Today and Human Cloning Essays -- Biology Research Essays

Science Today and Human Cloning Nowadays, we are being constantly fed with the prophecy that molecular biology is the next revolutionary "wave" replacing information technology which has changed the way we live in the past 50 years. The past decade has seen scientists making significant breakthroughs in this field to start the current biotechnology hype. One defining achievement was the cloning of a sheep named Dolly by Dr. Ian Wilmut of Roslin Institute in 1996. This historic success debunked previous biology myth that adult cells have lost their totipotent abilities exhibited during early-stage embryonic stage. Now, it is possible for us to use the cells from an adult organism to create another genetically identical organism. This success has also attracted much attention from scientists and laypeople alike as Dolly is the first mammal to be cloned. Suddenly it seems like science fiction story of cloning people has become not-so-distant possibility. Although other animals such as frogs have been cloned successful ly years before the birth of Dolly, but among all the successes in cloning, the ewe is the most closely related to humans in the biological hierarchy. Now it seems like human cloning is just a step away from us, technologically speaking. The possibility of cloning humans has sparked much debate among scientists, ethicists and even politicians, who are worried about the possible impacts of human cloning in future. At the moment, there is wide consensus that we are not ready to clone humans yet due to problems such as religious violation or lack of knowledge to conduct a successful human cloning experiment. However, recent developments implied that we are powerless to stop individuals from continuing their private ... ...s whether this knowledge opened a new path to our utopian dreams or nudged us a step closer to our own hell. References Cloning The First Human http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/cloningfirst.shtml Horizon. 25 October 2001. Criminal investigation into Korean human cloning http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/cloning/cloning.jsp?id=ns99992599 New Scientist. 26 July 2002. Clonaid http://www.clonaid.com 2002. Is Human Cloning an Inevitability? http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,648024,00.html Time.com. August 4 2002. A Clone in Sheep's Clothing http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0009B07D-BD40-1C59-B882809EC588ED9F Scientific American.Com. 03 March 1997. Information on Cloning and Nuclear transfer http://www.ri.bbsrc.ac.uk/library/research/cloning/cloning.html Roslin Institute Online. 03 April 2000.