Why does cloning require so many attempts?

Human Cloning: Concepts and Issues The U.S.-based company Clonaid claimed in December 2002 t Show more Part IIHuman Cloning: Concepts and Issues The U.S.-based company Clonaid claimed in December 2002 that it had produced the worlds first cloned human being. Clonaid alleged that a healthy cloned baby girl nicknamed Eve by scientists was born by Caesarean section on December 26 2002 to a 31-year-old U.S. mother. The location of the alleged birth has been kept secret. The DNA for the cloning was taken from the mothers skin cells. The scientist leading Clonaids efforts Dr. Brigitte Boisselier said she was celebrating a scientific success and Science can be used for the best and the worst. I believe that this is the best. I hope that you remember [to] talk about this baby not like a monster not like some results [sic] of something that is disgusting. She is a very healthy baby.[1] Dr. Boisselier is the former deputy director of research at the Air Liquid Group a French producer of industrial and medical gases. At the time of the announcement of Eve the company said that independent DNA testing of mother and child would be allowed in eight or nine days. However on January 2 2003 on the television show Crossfire Rael said If there is any risk that this baby is taken away from the family it is better to lose your credibility; dont do the testing.[2] Clonaid then announced that no testing would be done on either Eve or her mother. Rael said he made the decision after a judge in Florida signed a paper saying that the baby Eve should be taken from the family from her mother.[3] However no Florida judge had made such a ruling. During the December 26th announcement Dr. Boisselier also said another cloned baby was due in northern Europe in early January and three others shortly thereafter. Two of the expected babies were copies of dead children made using preserved cells.[4] Dr. Boisselier said that five other attempts had ended in miscarriage. On January 2nd the birth of a second clone to a Dutch woman was announced.[5] Michael Guillen former science editor for ABCs Good Morning America has been following Clonaid since 1997. Initially he was skeptical of Clonaid but claims their science credentials are legitimate It would be unwise to dismiss these people offhand.[6] A White House spokesman said that U.S. President George W. Bush had found the news deeply troubling adding that the news underscored the need for legislation to ban all human cloning in the U.S. Also Fred Eckhard a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that in the absence of any scientific proof we cant automatically accept it as a fact.[7] Clonaid has been racing against the Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori to produce the first cloned baby. Dr. Antinori has claimed that one of his patients will give birth to a cloned baby in January. Dr. Antinori brushed off Clonaids claims saying they were not substantiated on a scientific basis and only risk engendering confusion.[8] A variety of peopled have weighed in with their opinions: Dr. Patrick Dixon an expert on the ethics of human cloning described the news as totally inevitable but expressed fears over the morality of the project and the possibility that many abnormal fetuses would have been aborted before a healthy one survived. He said: Theres a global race by maverick scientists to produce clones motivated by fame money and warped and twisted beliefs.[9] The Raelians: Visionary Science or Quackery? by Scott D. Zimmerman Page 3 BBC science correspondent Richard Black says most scientists doubt Clonaids ability to clone a human and their motives pointing to the companys intention to charge around $200000 for each cloned child. Cattle mice sheep and some other animals have been cloned with mixed success. But some animals have shown defects as they ageand scientists fear the same could happen with humans.[10] Dr. Robert Lanza Advanced Cell Technologies has said that: Without any scientific data one has to be very very skeptical. This is a group again that has no scientific track record [and has] never published a single scientific paper in this area. They have no research experience in this areain fact [they] have never even cloned a mouse or a rabbit. I have to say that I think this is appalling and scientifically irresponsible. Again I think that we should not dismiss them outright. I think we do have the technology at present to clone human embryos and it may be simpler than scientists think.[11] Alta Charo Associate Dean University of Wisconsin Law School has said that: Nobody knows what it is except for medical grandstanding. If this is false its one of the great hoaxes on the public and the media. If it happens to be true which I sincerely doubtbut like others Ill wait for proofit was an irresponsible experiment on humans and children prior to having any sound basis in animal work. And finally its a political and public relations catastrophe because it will continue the confusion in the mind of the public between irresponsible reproduction applications of this technique and responsible already regulated applications for the cure of diseaseapplications that do not involve making babies but also go by the name of cloning.[12] Glenn McGee Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics has said that: If its possible that Brigitte Boisselier and unknown scientists unknown obstetricians and others in an unknown country were able to successfully give birth to Evewithout the kind of hundreds and hundreds of mistakes and medical problems that we saw with Dolly and other cloned animalsthen I think that suggests that we may be entering a new world in which just about anyone can make a clone. Although I myself very much doubt that she has succeeded in this effort.[13] Restate the question 1. Scientific Issues a. What would proof of successful cloning be? b. Are the technical claims for Clonaids cloning process consistent with the known technology (e.g. use of skin cells use of cells from deceased people)? Are the five miscarriages to be expected? c. Other organisms such as plants mice and sheep have been cloned. Why has it taken longer to clone humans or any other primates? d. Why does cloning require so many attempts? Why are birth defects and abnormalities common in clones? Show less

 

“Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order now and Get a Discount!

The post Why does cloning require so many attempts? appeared first on Premium Academic Affiliates.