Technological and Ethical Concerns of Cloning

Prior to DNA discovery, genotypes, phenotypes, or congenital observable traits are thought to be encoded by proteins. However, with the discovery of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and understanding of the structure of Watson and Crick, the possibility of DNA cloning or even DNA modification becomes a reality. The most noteworthy is the fact that sheep cloning was successful (often called Dolly) raises questions about the composition of ethical standards for genetic modification and replication.

As you can imagine, the commercialization of cloning technology poses an ethical problem. The cost of cloning an animal can be saved from euthanizing thousands of pets abandoned at evacuation centers, but knowledge of the long-term health effects of various species of clones Others emphasize the lack of. So far, these concerns were not enough to affect public opinion on the idea of ​​completely banning this practice. Extinction is another possibility of cloning technology. Introduction of genetic material from extinct species to eggs of closely related species can create clones of dead animals. In 2013, Australian researchers succeeded in creating embryos of gastro frog that are thought to be extinct since 1983 - embryos died in a few days

Most ethical questions about cloning concern the possibility of being used for cloning. There will be big technical problems. With current technology, it does not allow women to offer hundreds of eggs, abortion and survivors a high mortality rate, and the likelihood of elderly and high cancer rates for any child so produced There is no doubt. However, in 2004, Korean scientists cloned 30 human embryos, announced they planted them in the laboratory until they became hollow cell spheres and produced a series of stem cells from them. A further ethical argument was proposed in 2008 when scientists succeeded in cloning mice from a frozen tissue for 16 years.

There are many ethical problems surrounding human cloning, and there is no agreement on these ethical issues. Most ethical implications are theological concerns and different religious views that allege that human clones change what God wants and change the way the human baby is born. Many religious organizations believe that embryos must be regarded as humans and the therapeutic cloning behavior of stem cells extracted from embryos is the same as human killing. Because of this belief, many people oppose human cloning by ending their lives to make others live longer (Putatunda, 2007).