Benefits of cloning / how cloning liken us to the abilities of God: SAVING AND CREATING LIVES a) recombinant DNA technology

/ DNA cloning : the transfer of a DNA fragment of interest from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element -genetic engineering: Cloning could help reproduce plants that are more disease-resistant and have nutritional superiority. Can help address world hunger issues GM food = GEOG GOEG GOEG GOEG OEGOEGOEGOGOEOGO E.g genetically modified yogurt to cure HIV and AIDS in third world countries, http://www.gmofoodforthought.com/2006/01/researchers_use_genetically_mo.html -gene therapy: Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses genes to treat or prevent disease. In the future, this technique may allow doctors to treat a disorder by inserting a gene into a patient s cells instead of using drugs or surgery. Saving lifes, preventing diseases. ), the technique remains risky and is still under study to make sure that it will be safe and effective. Gene therapy is currently only being tested for the treatment of diseases that have no other cures.

b) reproductive cloning : technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal -Repopulate endangered animals or animals that are difficult to breed. Real life example: In 2001, the first clone of an endangered wild animal was born, a wild ox called a gaur. The young gaur died from an infection about 48 hours after its birth. In 2001, scientists in Italy reported the successful cloning of a healthy baby mouflon, an endangered wild sheep. The cloned mouflon is living at a wildlife center in Sardinia. Other endangered species that are potential candidates for cloning include the African bongo antelope, the Sumatran tiger, and the giant panda. Cloning extinct animals presents a much greater challenge to scientists because the egg and the surrogate needed to create the cloned embryo would be of a species different from the clone.

c) therapeutic cloning: production of human embryos to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development and to treat disease. Stem cells are important to biomedical researchers because they can be used to generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the human body. -possibility of cloning vital organs = cloning skin for a burn victim, a spine for a paraplegic, or a liver for a hepatitis victim. In addition, it would eliminate the need for immunosuppressive drugs that render organ recipients vulnerable to common diseases. The technology is not currently available, but is being studied. Benefits:

Eliminate risks: custom cloned genes that the body would not reject; would not have organ rejecgtion. When a body organ such as a kidney or heart fails to function, it may be possible to replace it with the cloned body organ. If the vital organs of the human body can be cloned, they can serve as backup systems for human beings. Eliminate waiting time: According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, 28,356 Americans received organ transplants in 2007 -- around 78 percent of those came from deceased people. Yet as of August 2008, more than 99,000 people in the United States were on the national waiting list for organs -creating lives: Human beings = man-made creatures CUSTOMIZED BY MAN Cloning may make it possible to reproduce a certain trait in human beings. We will be able to produce people with certain qualities, human beings with particular desirable traits, thus making human beings a man-made being. Plants = Plants customized by Man Producing superior food: Cloning could help reproduce plants that are more disease-resistant. Reproducing superior plants, especially those with nutritional superiority, could help address world hunger issues. Animals - that stupid dolly

Cons reduces genetic diversity Currently, livestock and crops have vast genetic resources available to them in the event of a disease epidemic. If humans engineer livestock and crops to be resistant to today's threatening diseases, we could remove the important genetic resources possessed by these organisms to resist new, novel diseases never before encountered. The results of this sort of "genetic mismanagement" could be disastrous. With genetically identical livestock and crops, a new disease could destroy 100% of the food resources of a given area, causing widespread famine and food shortages. Has not really happened yet so no real life example..?

CoNS NOT ETHICAL _l_