Cloning

Have you ever thought about having another one of you? A clone? Well scientists all around the world have been trying to figure out how to make a duplicate of someone. Cloning is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms reproduce asexually. But the problem with that is humans do not reproduce asexually. In cloning ever single bit of DNA is exactly the same for both. 

            You might not believe it, but there are human clones among us right now. They were not made in a science lab though; they are what we call identical twins! There are a few ways to go about cloning. One of which is artificial embryo twinning. In the real process (not artificial) it makes the two cells separate, and they continue to separate on their own until it ultimately develops into a separate individual. This is how identical twins are created. Artificial embryo twinning uses the same approach, but occurs in a Petri dish instead of a mother. This happens by manually separating a very early embryo into individual cells, and then allowing each cell to divide and develop on its own. The more complicated and complex way to clone is called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SNCT) uses a different approach than artificial embryo twinning, but it produces the same result: an exact clone, or genetic copy, of an individual. This method was used when creating Dolly the sheep, the first clone ever.

            Reproductive cloning is expensive and does not guarantee results. More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring. More than a hundred nuclear transfer procedures could be required to produce just one viable clone. In addition to low success rates, cloned animals tend to have higher rates of infection, tumor growth, and other disorders. Japanese scientists have proved that cloned mice live in poor health and die early. Many clone calves were abnormally large. Many cloned animals have not lived long enough to generate good data about how clones age. Appearing healthy at a young age unfortunately is not a good indicator of long-term survival. Clones have been known to die mysteriously.  

But is cloning really necessary? What would you use it for? So your clone can be doing your homework while you are out with your friends? What is the good in that? Absolutely nothing. It will only make people lazier, and less willing to do things on their own. There has not been enough research and experiments on this for scientists to gain enough knowledge to make cloning a good and safe thing.