Sunday, April 26, 2009
Back To School For A Week Now!!!!
I have been back to school for a week now!! I like spring break much better.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Best Report I have ever written:
Best Report I have ever written:
Chloé
March 2008
Writing
Risks of Cloning
Cloning is a well-known term for reproducing DNA. A clone is something that is living that has the exact same genes as its parents. Many people question if it is right to clone with so many risks. I question myself whether or not we should clone living things and what the risks are exactly. With current science the risks are almost too great to safely clone animals or anything known to mankind.
Cloning currently has a low success rate. “The success rate ranges from 0.1 percent to 3 percent, which means for every 1000 tries only one to thirty clones are made.” ( Genetics pg. 1) Why does this happen? Scientists do not know the exact reason for the high failure rate, however, here are some explanations: The enucleated egg and transferred nucleus may not have the exact fit. An egg with a newly transferred nucleus may not develop properly. The implantation of an embryo into the surrogate mother might fail. The attempted pregnancy itself might be a failure. ( Genetics pg. 1)
There are also problems that can occur later during development such as “Large Offspring Syndrome” (LOS) or abnormally large organs. This causes breathing, blood flow and other problems. Because LOS does not always occur, scientist cannot accurately predict if it will happen to any given clone. Clones with LOS have kidney or brain malformations and impaired immune systems, which cause problems later in life. ( Genetics pg. 1)
Clones can also have abnormal gene expression patterns. The transferred nucleus behaves as though it is an adult cell, when truly it is in an early embryonic cell and causes problems. In a naturally created embryo, the DNA is produced to express a certain set of genes. Later on in the cycle, the embryonic cells begin to become different. However, with clones the cells stay the same. ( Genetics pg. 1)
Even if all of the technical problems of cloning could be solved, there would still be the concern of preserving genetic diversity. For example, suppose scientist tried to take cells from an endangered species like a panda to produce thousands of new pandas. It sounds like a good plan, but it would not be. All of the cloned pandas would be identical and there would be no genetic diversity in the population. A lack of diversity in the population would be very dangerous. (Duprau, pg 44 and 45)
In a regular population of animals, every individual is different Some animals could resist diseases and be able to survive. In a group of only cloned animals, one disease could come along and destroy an entire group. Genetically identical plants would also face the same risk as animals; such as the potatoes that were destroyed in the Irish Potato Famine. ( Duprau, pg 44 and pg 45)
Genetic diversity allows normal changes to occur over the years. When two animals procreate, their genes combine in ways we cannot predict. Animals are constantly being born with more new and useful characteristics that help it adapt to its environment; a thicker coat that shields it from the cold; or having longer legs or bigger and stronger muscles. Cloned animals do not evolve and have changes. (Duprau, pg 44)
Cloning can also have emotional risks. One worry is that the genetic material used from an adult could continue to age. A newborn baby from a clone could be born as a genetic thirty year old. It could take years to find out if the baby were normal. There could be huge emotional issues for a human clone. What if a parent cloned a child that died? How would the cloned child feel? Like a replacement? Scientist have no answers for these types of emotional questions. (Lounsbury, pg 3)
On January 14th of 2008, the Washington Post published the findings of the FDA titled: “Animal Cloning: A Risk Assessment” The FDA concluded that “food products from healthy animal clones and their progeny that are not materially different from corresponding products from conventional animals are as safe to eat as their conventional counterparts.” ( Washingtonpost.com pg 3)
The FDA has stated that meat and milk from cloned animals is as safe as from animals bred the old-fashioned way. This decision removes the last big US barrier to marketing products from cloned livestock. However, the government has asked animal cloning companies to continue a voluntary moratorium for a little while longer. ( Washingtonpost.com pg 3)
It will be many years before foods from cloned animals show up in stores. Most likely the FDA will not require companies to let know customers if their milk is from a cloned animal.
In 1997 a Scottish scientist changed the world by cloning, Dolly, a sheep. Dolly had a short life because of a lung disease that raised questions of how cloned animals will age. The FDA's report says that “ Currently, it is not possible to draw any conclusions regarding the longevity of livestock clones or possible long-term health consequences” for the animal.
(Washingtonpost.com pg 3)
Through my research I have read about the marvel of cloning as well as the risk. At this time there seems to be a lot of promise but a lot of risk as well. I do not think we fully understand the long term risks of cloning. I do not think I would like to eat a cloned hamburger. Imagine if we accidentally cloned a cow with mad cow disease and we did not catch it? We could infect millions of people with the cloning of one animal's cells . Cloning to me seems to be like playing God. I think there should be only one God.
Works Cited
“What are the risks of cloning. Genetic Science Learning Center. February 20, 2008 The University of Utah. February 20, 2008 http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/units/cloning/cloningrisks
Jefferies, David Cloning Frontiers of Genetic Engineering
Perl, Lila “ Open for debate: Cloning. “ 2006
“ Designer Baby Coverage” “http://geneticsandsociety.org”
Lounsbury, Larry “The Ethics of Human Cloning” “http://www.authorsden.com 23 April, 2007
“ Animal Cloning: A risk Assessment” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01
January14, 2008
DuPrau, Jeanne “Cloning” 2000
“Cloning Fact Sheet Human Genome Project Information 29 August, 2006” http://www.ornl.gov/sci/tech resources/humancloning
Chloé
March 2008
Writing
Risks of Cloning
Cloning is a well-known term for reproducing DNA. A clone is something that is living that has the exact same genes as its parents. Many people question if it is right to clone with so many risks. I question myself whether or not we should clone living things and what the risks are exactly. With current science the risks are almost too great to safely clone animals or anything known to mankind.
Cloning currently has a low success rate. “The success rate ranges from 0.1 percent to 3 percent, which means for every 1000 tries only one to thirty clones are made.” ( Genetics pg. 1) Why does this happen? Scientists do not know the exact reason for the high failure rate, however, here are some explanations: The enucleated egg and transferred nucleus may not have the exact fit. An egg with a newly transferred nucleus may not develop properly. The implantation of an embryo into the surrogate mother might fail. The attempted pregnancy itself might be a failure. ( Genetics pg. 1)
There are also problems that can occur later during development such as “Large Offspring Syndrome” (LOS) or abnormally large organs. This causes breathing, blood flow and other problems. Because LOS does not always occur, scientist cannot accurately predict if it will happen to any given clone. Clones with LOS have kidney or brain malformations and impaired immune systems, which cause problems later in life. ( Genetics pg. 1)
Clones can also have abnormal gene expression patterns. The transferred nucleus behaves as though it is an adult cell, when truly it is in an early embryonic cell and causes problems. In a naturally created embryo, the DNA is produced to express a certain set of genes. Later on in the cycle, the embryonic cells begin to become different. However, with clones the cells stay the same. ( Genetics pg. 1)
Even if all of the technical problems of cloning could be solved, there would still be the concern of preserving genetic diversity. For example, suppose scientist tried to take cells from an endangered species like a panda to produce thousands of new pandas. It sounds like a good plan, but it would not be. All of the cloned pandas would be identical and there would be no genetic diversity in the population. A lack of diversity in the population would be very dangerous. (Duprau, pg 44 and 45)
In a regular population of animals, every individual is different Some animals could resist diseases and be able to survive. In a group of only cloned animals, one disease could come along and destroy an entire group. Genetically identical plants would also face the same risk as animals; such as the potatoes that were destroyed in the Irish Potato Famine. ( Duprau, pg 44 and pg 45)
Genetic diversity allows normal changes to occur over the years. When two animals procreate, their genes combine in ways we cannot predict. Animals are constantly being born with more new and useful characteristics that help it adapt to its environment; a thicker coat that shields it from the cold; or having longer legs or bigger and stronger muscles. Cloned animals do not evolve and have changes. (Duprau, pg 44)
Cloning can also have emotional risks. One worry is that the genetic material used from an adult could continue to age. A newborn baby from a clone could be born as a genetic thirty year old. It could take years to find out if the baby were normal. There could be huge emotional issues for a human clone. What if a parent cloned a child that died? How would the cloned child feel? Like a replacement? Scientist have no answers for these types of emotional questions. (Lounsbury, pg 3)
On January 14th of 2008, the Washington Post published the findings of the FDA titled: “Animal Cloning: A Risk Assessment” The FDA concluded that “food products from healthy animal clones and their progeny that are not materially different from corresponding products from conventional animals are as safe to eat as their conventional counterparts.” ( Washingtonpost.com pg 3)
The FDA has stated that meat and milk from cloned animals is as safe as from animals bred the old-fashioned way. This decision removes the last big US barrier to marketing products from cloned livestock. However, the government has asked animal cloning companies to continue a voluntary moratorium for a little while longer. ( Washingtonpost.com pg 3)
It will be many years before foods from cloned animals show up in stores. Most likely the FDA will not require companies to let know customers if their milk is from a cloned animal.
In 1997 a Scottish scientist changed the world by cloning, Dolly, a sheep. Dolly had a short life because of a lung disease that raised questions of how cloned animals will age. The FDA's report says that “ Currently, it is not possible to draw any conclusions regarding the longevity of livestock clones or possible long-term health consequences” for the animal.
(Washingtonpost.com pg 3)
Through my research I have read about the marvel of cloning as well as the risk. At this time there seems to be a lot of promise but a lot of risk as well. I do not think we fully understand the long term risks of cloning. I do not think I would like to eat a cloned hamburger. Imagine if we accidentally cloned a cow with mad cow disease and we did not catch it? We could infect millions of people with the cloning of one animal's cells . Cloning to me seems to be like playing God. I think there should be only one God.
Works Cited
“What are the risks of cloning. Genetic Science Learning Center. February 20, 2008 The University of Utah. February 20, 2008 http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/units/cloning/cloningrisks
Jefferies, David Cloning Frontiers of Genetic Engineering
Perl, Lila “ Open for debate: Cloning. “ 2006
“ Designer Baby Coverage” “http://geneticsandsociety.org”
Lounsbury, Larry “The Ethics of Human Cloning” “http://www.authorsden.com 23 April, 2007
“ Animal Cloning: A risk Assessment” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01
January14, 2008
DuPrau, Jeanne “Cloning” 2000
“Cloning Fact Sheet Human Genome Project Information 29 August, 2006” http://www.ornl.gov/sci/tech resources/humancloning
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