Cloning animals is beneficial

First, let me start out by saying "Cloning is a big first step. Genetic manipulation of cloned animals is the future direction of the cloning frontier. It is here that concerns are loudly voiced and take up headlines in the media. The public and the media’s views on the future of cloning often ignore some of its potential benefits: Changing genetic traits is the next step in cloning - it can lead to medical benefits for animals as well as humans." 1. • Agriculture and Drug Production:-Not only can the best traits be perpetuated but farm animals could also be used as “machines” for large-scale production of medically important proteins. Polly, a transgenic cloned lamb, is an example. She is able to produce milk containing factor IX — the protein that is deficient in hemophiliacs.2. • Maintaining Biodiversity: - Cloning may be an important tool for preserving endangered species if currently practiced methods fail.3. • Biomedical Research: - Cloning can produce genetically identical laboratory animals which can be used as models for human disease. The most commonly used laboratory animal, the mouse, reproduces rapidly and its genetics have been well studied. Mice have been successfully cloned and will likely facilitate the discovery of new treatments for disease. Jean-Paul Renard, of the National Institute of Agricultural Research in France, is attempting to produce cloned transgenic rabbits to study cardiovascular disease in the hope of finding new treatments. In addition, it provides a model for studying the interaction of nuclear verses mitochondrial genes and for nuclear verses cytoplasmic factors. 4. • Commercial Endeavours:- Noting that no live dog clones have yet been reported, the company PerPETuate, Inc. (Connecticut) is freezing tissue from family pets for the future. Researchers have had little success in the steps required to make a dog clone, such as development after nuclear transfer and embryo implantation into the womb.5. • Treatment for Human Disease:-Cells could be harvested from early embryos to provide cell and tissue replacement without the hazards of transplantation rejection. The U.K. government has recently accepted recommendations from its chief medical to permit research using embryos subject to controls, which include a 14-day limit (see the Department of Health website listed below in “learn more”).*Clones will not be carbon copies of the donor since environmental factors will influence their personalities.*To clone or not to clone humans The cloning of human embryos for reproductive purposes is illegal at this time. Yet it is still important to examine the consequences and the likelihood of this scenario. The media may dream up and forecast robotic cloned armies of Hitler; however, identical twins illustrate that being genetically identical does not remove their humanness. Identical twins exhibit different personalities and behavior because environment also plays a major role on who we become. At any rate, there have been significant difficulties with cloning primates, including an extremely low success rate and a high number of abnormalities. These results make it unacceptable to attempt human cloning at this moment in time. The ethical and social issues that will arise in the future when more efficient methods are developed leave some time for a resolution. Some of the same issues that arose from in vitro fertilization will be revisited (e.g., infertile couples, “replacing” the death of an infant).Conclusion Cloning has opened many doors that could lead to remarkable medical advancements but, as with all new technologies, it will be accompanied by ethical and social dilemmas. Today’s successes will pave the road to improving efficiencies and help add to the basic understanding of our cells. Even Dolly’s creator, Ian Wilmut, is focusing less on sheep and more on understanding the mechanism of reprogramming our genetic material! http://www.manataka.org... http://www.actionbioscience.org...http://www.questia.com...http://library.thinkquest.org...http://www.sfgate.com...;