Present+Impact

__**Cloning Today**__ The present impact of cloning is a bit complicated depending on where you stand on the issue. For those who oppose it cloning should be banned and never practiced again. But for those who are for it have high hopes of perfecting the process in the years soon to come and being able to produce therapies to degenerative and or inherited diseases.  In today’s scientific world there are many different types of cloning, but the two I will focus on are DNA cloning and Tissue Culture.



DNA cloning is said to be the simplest and most common of the two methods. It is done by targeting a segment or a specific gene and copying it, then it is placed in a bacterium, and as the bacterium reproduces, identical copies of the DNA sequence are also produced. Because genes direct the production of proteins, the bacteria with the inserted DNA can be triggered to act as miniature factories, and produce large quantities of a particular protein, and that is used to produce insulin, human growth hormone, and erythropoietin for kidney dialysis patients, clotting factor for hemophiliacs, and hepatitis B vaccines today (National Institutes of Health, 1998).



 Tissue culture is another common form of cloning. In tissue culture, a somatic cell (any cell of the body other than egg or sperm cells) is grown in the laboratory in culture dishes. When the cells divide, the new cells are clones from the original cell. Tissue culturing has paved the path for scientist to look for cures for cancerous cells in chemotherapy patients. It also reduces the use of live animals in research. Tissue culture also has advanced the studies of human cells that could not be done otherwise. There are a few downsides to cell culturing. The first is not all cells will grow in culture, and another is some that are successful will change their characteristics and will no longer be a representative of the tissue where it came from (National Institutes of Health, 1998).

While those who are for it are getting closer to perfecting the process there are still the others at the opposite end of the spectrum who feel there are ethical, moral, religious, and social concerns about the process. Some feel that cloning of humans will cause loss of human uniqueness and individuality. There are also those who feel the scientist involved in human cloning are doing it for all the wrong reasons and will abuse the process if perfected. There is a fear of the cloning process getting out of hand and scientist selling the process for personal gain. Many countries have banned the process such as China, United Kingdom, Russia, and Germany (Nhachi, 2001). 