Sex in the Future by Robin Baker
Author:Robin Baker [Baker, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-135-73893-8
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2012-04-09T04:00:00+00:00
CLONING - THE PROBLEMS
When the first cloning experiment was announced, the popular press was full of futuristic claims of the ways the technique would be used and misused. Macabre predictions were made. The egotistical would produce droves of clones of themselves and take over the world. The wealthy would maintain duplicate sets of all their own organs in case they needed transplants. Fans of famous people would acquire bits of their heros tissue to create their own clone. This was even extrapolated to suggesting that fans of dead idols would try to bring their heroes back to life. Clones of Elvis Presley were a common vision.
Of course, such resurrection cloning can work only as in the scene: using cells that are still alive or at least have their DNA intact. Dead cells with corrupted DNA will not do. Only if cells have been deep-frozen might it still be possible to retrieve usable DNA — hence the recent speculation over cloning a 20,000-year-old mammoth dug from the Siberian permafrost. DNA survives intact at minus 22° Centigrade or lower, so any mammoth — or human — sufficiently deep-frozen at death might conceivably retain DNA suitable for cloning in its bone marrow or internal organs. Dead humans who were not frozen properly, however, are unsuitable for cloning, and clones of dead heroes remain in the realm of fiction.
Nevertheless, it is not surprising that such images of the future fueled public concern and frightened people into opposing cloning, clouding their eyes to the positive uses of the technology. Religious organizations, in particular, were quick to comment, with responses ranging from reasoned caution to vindictive outrage. Some simply asked for a moratorium on cloning research until ethical questions had been satisfactorily resolved. Others, however, demanded a universal ban on human cloning, suggesting that it should carry a penalty on a par with rape, child abuse, and murder. The main concern for all was that cloning would be an assault on human individuality and dignity and that it was wholly unnatural.
We shall discuss the question of human individuality and dignity in Chapter 15. There, we shall also explore the public attitude to naturalness. For the moment, we should concentrate on two of the more practical problems associated with cloning.
First, as discussed above, the technique is currently notoriously unreliable. Dolly was the only clone produced from an adult cell by the original research team out of hundreds of attempts, and there were miscarriages and abnormal fetuses along the way. However, this is not surprising for such a radical new technique, and few can doubt that the success rate will rapidly improve, as it did for IVF and ICSI once a few basic techniques had been learned. Indeed, as we have already seen, the first step may already have occurred in the cloning of cattle.
Second, there is the problem that clones may age prematurely. Most of our cells divide only a few times before they die. At each division, the tips of chromosomes, known as telomeres, shorten and eventually are not long enough for the cell to be able to divide.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Anthropology | Archaeology |
Philosophy | Politics & Government |
Social Sciences | Sociology |
Women's Studies |
Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 1 by Fanny Burney(32029)
Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 3 by Fanny Burney(31441)
Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 2 by Fanny Burney(31391)
The Great Music City by Andrea Baker(30762)
We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union(18613)
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda(14636)
Pimp by Iceberg Slim(13757)
Bombshells: Glamour Girls of a Lifetime by Sullivan Steve(13670)
Fifty Shades Freed by E L James(12892)
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell(12836)
Norse Mythology by Gaiman Neil(12796)
For the Love of Europe by Rick Steves(11343)
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan(8868)
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker(8673)
The Lost Art of Listening by Michael P. Nichols(7142)
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker(6857)
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz(6298)
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou(6260)
Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil(5805)
