What is cloning and how can we describe its main objectives and achievements? PurEssay decided to analyze various essays on cloning to distinguish conventional wisdom from actual facts. We found out a lot of interesting information that can help you write a paper on a similar topic.

Clones, according to a genetic science learning center, can be described as organisms that are exact genetic copies. Cloning, respectively, is a method of producing such organisms by means of asexual reproduction. Many animal and plant species have been propagating in this way for millions of years. But modern meaning of this term implies coping cells, genes, antibodies and even multicellular organisms in vitro. Copies, appeared as a result of asexual reproduction, are genetically identical by definition. However, they can be subject to genetic variation due to chance mutations or artificial laboratory methods.

With scientific development, many cloning essays started in abundance featuring such terms as genetic engineering and cloning. A human treated cloning as a chance to overcome terminal diseases, to change flora and fauna according to our needs. Success was not long in coming, but suddenly people fell deep in thought, wondering about possible ramifications. Experiments became classified, leaving ordinary people confused in various myths, which right now we are going either to prove or bust.

Only people can benefit from cloning and genetic engineering

Actually sponsors allocate a lot of funds to apply the technology to animals. Scientists for the most part develop biological products, vaccines and diagnostic tools. Our writers, who you can reach through this form, found out that annually about $18 billion are spent on animal health throughout our planet, and $3 billion of them account for biotechnological products.

Cloning and genetic engineering are distant future concerns

Let’s remember the first animal clone, without which any animal cloning essay would be incomplete. Dolly the sheep appeared in 1997, cloned by Sir Ian Wilmut. She lived more than 6 years and became the most famous sheep in the world. But the technology moved even further. In 2004 scientists produced the first living creatures with a foreign gene. They were GloFish, fish with a gene of sea anemones, which could fluoresce with red.

The technology is developing so rapidly that organizations dealing with cloning became overloaded with commercial orders. In 2004 a lady got back a clone of her favorite cat, which cost her a pretty penny – $50 thousand. Hundreds of cattle were copied in laboratories, although there is neither their meat nor milk on the market. Who said that cloning is a distant future concern?

Dolly the sheep had poor health and died prematurely

It is true that Dolly had a shorter life than her fellows. The sheep died from a lung disease, typical of aged species. However, there is no reason to consider the death premature, as, being kept in closed space, the sheep entered a higher risk group. Dolly almost never browsed outdoors for the sake of security. Abnormalities in chromosome structure were found only in one of the earliest studies, but were not confirmed in the future. It allows us to affirm in our essay on cloning that Dolly’s death was natural.

Livestock does not need biotechnology

Actually, it is easier and cheaper to use biotechnology for domestic animals instead of a conventional approach. Cats and dogs get biological vaccines that are far more effective that the usual ones. Genetic therapy helps cure animals’ eyesight and malignant tumors. Scientists even suggest examining the DNA of pure-blooded species to discover useful genes. New technology helps improve domestic animals’ health and their productivity. Thus, genetically modified food is wholesome and easily digested, which reduces livestock maintenance cost.

Clones, none the less, differ from normal animals

Scientists were also interested in this question, and they conducted special studies, analyzing all aspects of animals’ activity – behavior, nutrition, physiological processes. The results showed that clones had no differences compared to ordinary animals.

Cloning does not apply to wild animals

Scientists have successfully used cloning to save endangered animals. For example, they managed to clone threatened European mouflons, Indian bison and bantengs. Many zoos are yet unable to recreate animal specimens, so they create cryobanks, which store ovules and tissues samples of endangered animals and birds.

Cloned animals have high mortality at birth

Having analyzed a lot of statistical data, writers from PurEssay confirm that this statement is indeed true: many artificial embryos are not viable, and the mortality rate at birth is really high. But even in conventional breeding, few animals are left. Only those matching specific parameters are worth keeping alive. Breeders kill others, considering them byproducts.

Ordinary animals have better health than clones

Unlike the previous statement, this one is a myth because many serious research institutions (such as the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) showed that cloned animals feature no significant deviations from the health of ordinary specimens. It took scientists 10 years of studies to prove it.

All experiments are a series of animal abuse

Activists demand to stop experiments on animals and switch over to computer models. In fact, in our cloning essay we already showed that animal clones used for experiments are surrounded with constant care. As for computer models, they cannot provide a complete picture. Again, authorities thoroughly check research institutions in order to prevent possible misuse of powers.

However, activists tend to be aggressive. They even resorted to beating scientists and harassing their families, prompting the FBI to consider their actions as terrorist threats. In the struggle for animal rights, which are in no way infringed, people are willing to violate the rights of their fellow citizens! The US government supports biomedical researches, punishing those who employ illegal methods to prevent them.

A clone can replace its progenitor

This myth implies creating clones of animals or people with absolutely the same age, appearance and character. Many people fear that a clone can encroach on the place of its progenitor. However, such plots exist only in science fiction stories.

We will produce narrow specialists by cloning people

Some people believe that it is possible to produce human clones with a certain set of skills. But any essay on human cloning can present valid disclaimers. First, cloning merely reproduces a set of genes, while skills are acquired and inherited, not transmitted, so they cannot be “programmed”. Secondly, many countries still prohibit human cloning by law. Thus, Wikipedia provides us with the list of states that developed their own human cloning regulations. On this page, we see that the USA, Canada, Australia, major EU and other countries strictly ban such experiments.

We hope that our writing company could shed light on various aspects of animal and human cloning, helping you develop your own ideas in academic papers. We remind you that we will gladly undertake your school and college assignments and provide you with quality essays on different topics, including cloning. Do not hesitate to contact us and get to know the details.