大学英语-多媒体课件-大学英语Ⅲ-unit8 Cloning-unit8 Cloning-Human Cloning.docVIP

Human Cloning Kevin Jones Cloning has been around for many years; mainly used for producing plants. Cloning is the process of making a genetically identical organism through nonsexual means. Only recently, in the past decade, has animal and human cloning become more of an interest. It all started with the first cloned mammal back in 1997, Dolly the sheep. Dolly sparked a genetic revolution really, as after Dolly, the interest and research in cloning has grown exponentially. Most people are only familiar with one of the main three types of cloning. The most familiar type of cloning is the type of cloning that was used to clone Dolly, reproductive cloning. The other two main types of cloning are therapeutic cloning and embryo cloning. These three types of cloning must be technically and ethically analyzed separately to fully make a decision as to whether human cloning, or even cloning as a whole, is morally right or wrong. First off, one needs to know exactly what each type of cloning is. Reproductive cloning is a cloning technology that is used to generate an animal with the same nuclear DNA as another animal, whether that animal is currently living or dead. More specifically a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, SCNT, is used by scientists for this type of cloning. This process is when genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell is transferred to an egg whose nucleus has been removed. To stimulate cell division the egg must be treated with chemicals and/or electric current. The final process, once the cloned embryo reaches the right stage, is to transfer it to the uterus of a female host where it will develop and eventually be born. The thing about this process is that the clone created is not truly an identical clone of the donor. The only thing that is the same as the donor is the clone’s nuclear or chromosomal DNA. One reason why the cloning of Dolly was so remarkable is that it showed that the genetic material from a speci