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Essay / Cloning and related ethical controversies
Among the rapidly growing field of genetics is a rather peculiar process that was once the pinnacle of science fiction and has now become a certain absolute in reality: cloning. Regardless of the controversial issues surrounding this process, it is now more widely used than ever and if the facts surrounding the problem are any indication, from a technical standpoint, a successful process could prove very beneficial to the human race. Reminiscent of fictional entities, cloning can be believed to be a process in which a physically similar copy of an organism is created, sharing key personality traits and age. Meanwhile, the possibility of being genetically engineered to produce desirable traits, whether physically or mentally, remains a feasible option. In summary, this concept is not too far from the reality of the situation. In reality, cloning is one or more processes in which a genetically identical replica of a biological entity is created. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayVarious biological materials can be cloned, from the simplicity of a single cell to the complexity of a multicellular organism such as an animal. Although considered minor, it is essential to note that cloning a multicellular organism does not result in the duplicate sharing the same age, memories, or necessarily exactly the same personalities (although there may be some similarities). ), because only DNA is shared between the two. organisms (original and clone). Cloning is obviously a complex process, although it is not necessarily always carried out by artificial means, as it can be found in one of the most important aspects of nature: asexual reproduction. During asexual reproduction, single-celled organisms, such as bacteria, split into two, resulting in two genetically indistinguishable individuals. Artificial cloning can be simplified into three unique types/forms including: gene cloning, reproductive cloning, and therapeutic cloning. Gene cloning results in duplicates of particular sections of DNA or genes. Reproductive cloning, which is the most common form of cloning in works of fiction, produces replicas of entire organisms, while therapeutic cloning produces embryonic stem cells for the purposes of experiments/testing intended to create biological tissues to replace damaged/or infected tissues. The cloning procedure can be carried out in a variety of ways, with the particular specifics changing circumstantially, for example depending on the organism and external/environmental variables. Such an example can be found in the case of genetic (gene) cloning. During this process, an organism's gene ("foreign DNA") is interpolated into the genetic material of a carrier called a vector that can diverge from simple life forms such as bacteria to organisms like cells yeast, viruses and even plasmids. Before gene placement, the vector is placed in a location with laboratory-like conditions, stimulating it to multiply/duplicate many times. More complex organisms such as animals can be cloned by extracting a somatic cell (which can be any cell in the body excluding sperm) and placing it into an egg cell from which the confined DNA has been removed. The egg containing the somatic cell is then placed in the uterus of a female animal belonging to the same species where it is allowed to.