Perhaps the most popular dispute in science fiction and the medical world of practical technology; cloning. While many believe cloning could further human longevity and environmental stability, the media quite enjoys creating a monster out of the topic. In Jurassic Park, dinosaurs are brought back into the modern world only to completely decimate human civilization and order. Additionally, in GATTACA, a critically acclaimed galactic science fiction film, cloning humans develops a destructive dystopia. Human copies are discriminated, and a plethora of laws and harsh legal enforcement oppress the public. Life becomes destructive. This is the pop culture of science at its most influential. When you think of the term ‘cloning’, you probably have a very common scenario envisioned. A senile scientist cackles madly next to his life’s work- a synthetic human held in a tall cylindrical receptacle encased in green bubbly goo. However, in the realms of reality, cloning is an entirely different concept. Instead of a human, a grain of rice genetically modified to withstand drought and disease. Instead of a case of neon slime, a lab filled with medical technology such as PCR machines and microscopes. And instead of the mad scientist, a team of chemical engineers working to make your life better. Cloning benefits outweigh the consequences because cloning can solve crises in the agriculture industry, provide a more efficient way to discover medicine, and save lives. Although the notion of cloning isn’t as falsely fictitious as most people think, it’s still got a long way to go regarding becoming a useful technology. The chemical engineers struggle to balance technological innovation and human ethics. The grain of rice engineered to withstand flooding and disease is only engineered for the disease it’s been in contact with. Cloning is still a relatively new technology in the scientific community- and with new technology comes criticism and doubt. The one thing that can’t be dismissed is the notion that cloning, extended into biological life, can be taken too far. For example, a severely concerning contention brought up by The Naked Scientists, a popular science talk show, listened to by many in the professional field, explains that “If we translate [cloning] to humans, this would mean generating an adult clone as a ‘spare part’ donor, an act that most people would view as morally questionable in the extreme.” [Cambridge]. Yes, science can go that far- if humanity allows it. It would be rather alarming if anyone could create a living human. There are no human clones as of now because of the “scientific, ethical, and commercial reasons.” [Begley]. However, who said that cloning is only for humans and dinosaurs? Thankfully, there are many stories in the cloning universe that compel the reader to think of the scientific innovation of biological duplication as something less extreme. For example, in the heart of Turrialba, Costa Rica, cloning has recently entered the cacao industry. Myles Karp from Business Insider observes that in the past ten years, cacao has been hit by a lethal disease, decaying the pods, and producing poor crops. Not only is this alarming to the world as an economic chocolate industry, but to the third world farmers who depend on their crop for life support. No one knew how to handle the crisis until Dr. Phillips Mora stepped in with an idea- cloning the most resistant cacao pods to make the strongest and most resistive seed. In 2006, C.A.T.I.E was born. A super-cacao seed, if you will [Karp]. Although the pod is only resistant to the diseases it has encountered, it provides hope for the desperate working population in the farming business. Karp assures that “The solution is not to replace all cacao with the six available C.A.T.I.E varieties, but to be able to continue to diversify the cacao materials growing worldwide.” [Karp] In Costa Rica, cloning has improved life for poor farmers and has helped support the cacao industry. If Dr. Phillips Mora can save cacao pods, then why not other foods and crops? Cloning isn’t the ultimate answer to solving world hunger, but it very well could be a start. In addition to improving the livelihood of crops, cloning may soon be the answer to improving human life. “Cloning for medical purposes has the potential to benefit large numbers of people,” advises the Genetic Science Learning Center from the University of Utah, “Much of what researchers learn about human disease comes from studying animal models such as mice. Often, animal models are genetically engineered to carry disease-causing mutations in their genes. Creating these transgenic animals is a time-intensive process that requires trial-and-error and several generations of breeding. Cloning could help reduce the time needed to make a transgenic animal model, and the result would be a population of genetically identical animals for study [Genetic Science Learning Center]. Transgenic animals, as the Genetic Learning Center explains, could be the answer to speeding up the discovery process for new medicinal treatments. When there are human lives on the line, cloning becomes a serious topic. For instance, Carl Zimmer from the New York Times explains that human stem cells may be the answer to many questions regarding genetic diseases. Sheefs, he explains, are a simple group of synthetic cells made by the process of cloning real cells taken from a human life form- a harmless process. These Sheefs are the beginning of many intensive studies that will hopefully produce more advanced sheefs that can test drugs for their compatibility in lessening the effects of cancer and diabetes and eventually curing them [Zimmer]. Sheefs have become a popular topic of the scientific discovery section in your daily news feed, because being able to actually replicate cells instead of using live subjects opens up pathways scientists never considered. In this instance, cloning is actually more ethical than not. By being able to create cells, scientists won’t need willing human test subjects. The milestones of modern medicine can be achieved in the laboratory without an operation table. A little girl sentenced to one year of life or less could walk away from cancer without losing a hair on her head. Although that’s not the reality right now, sheefs give substantial hope to not only saving lives, but also educating scientists on how the human body and disease functions. The reality of cloning is not what people are led to believe. Cloning gives hope and life to people in all situations- providing income and self sustainability to poor people, unlocking new solutions to medicine and disease, and saving the lives of people who were once condemned to live a life restricted by disease and genetic faults. For those skeptics that still believe cloning is ethically wrong, I say read scientific articles instead of watching Star Trek. What people don’t realize is that cloning is not entirely about creating Frankenstein’s monster. What we need to do is erase the panic and induced hysteria of cloning and focus on the tasks at hand- people in trouble and being able to mend that by exploring the basics of simple cellular cloning.
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Awesome read! I enjoyed your persuasive piece on cloning acceptance.
First, you described all questionable words/processes without assuming your audience would know their context. Brief descriptions, as the ones you have inserted, will broaden your audience, making your informational text more accessible.
Second, you have provided quotes in reasonable places to strengthen your argument.
Third, your reference to Frankenstein’s monster cheered my heart: many people assume, based off Hollywood, Frankenstein is the monster. But, he’s not!
I do recommend spacing out each paragraph. (I am on mobile. If there are spaces, disregard this sentence!)
One quotation mark is missing from a quote above. I have provided the following snippet to make locating the sentence easier:
“…from the University of Utah, “Much of what researchers learn…”
Thanks to you, sheefs has been added to my vocabulary. ?
Keep on writing! Take care!
Michelle R.