For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222

Genetics & Cloning
  Term Paper ID:27221 		Get This Paper Free! or
Essay Subject:
Discusses the recent developments in the field of genetics. Examines the successful cloning of a sheep in Scotland & efforts to create genetically engineered super drugs.... More...
4 Pages / 900 Words
4 sources, 4 Citations, APA Format
$16.00

More Papers on This Topic


Paper Abstract:
Discusses the recent developments in the field of genetics. Examines the successful cloning of a sheep in Scotland & efforts to create genetically engineered super drugs.

Paper Introduction:
Genetics today is on the cutting edge of biological science. Geneticists have already accomplished much with new strains of grains, plants, and even certain farm animals. They are trying to cure diseases through the creation of new strains of bacteria by means of recombinant DNA technology. Cloning is one of the techniques being used in genetic research and offers the promise of the development of new strains of plants and animals with specific traits. Cloning and other genetic research is also applicable to human beings, and this raises a number of ethical issues which have to be addressed before such research proceeds--if it is to proceed at all. Cloning higher animals has proven to be difficult, but scientists have persevered and have produced clones of livestock, including sheep. Researchers in Scotland recently succeeded in cloni

Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.


and British researchersthat they have genetically engineered sheep and goats to secrete drugs intheir milk as a means of giving the biotech industry a streamlined meansfor producing many pharmaceuticals. Cloning and other genetic research isalso applicable to human beings, and this raises a number of ethical issueswhich have to be addressed before such research proceeds--if it is toproceed at all. David Heyd points out that the act of "procreation" begins with theprefix "Pro-," meaning that this is a positive act. News & World Report (September 9, 1991), 1 .Heyd, David. Cloning higher animals has proven to be difficult, but scientists havepersevered and have produced clones of livestock, including sheep.Researchers in Scotland recently succeeded in cloning sheep using atechnique that has the potential to produce hundreds of animals. Goats developedat Tufts University and Genzyme Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts,for example, bear the gene for TPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, a drugused to dissolve blood clots in heart-attack patients. Human experiments have been conducted without suchconsent and without other safeguards to protect either the subjects of theresearch or the integrity of the research itself, which only undercuts theability of the profession to gain support for any such experiments. They are trying to cure diseasesthrough the creation of new strains of bacteria by means of recombinant DNAtechnology. The livestock produced in this mannerare called transgenics because their cells contain foreign genes whichdirect the production of proteins with medicinal purposes. Today, dozens of drugs aremade in vats filled with genetically engineered bacteria, which are mucheasier to manipulate genetically than mammals, but milk can contain 1 to1, times the drug concentration of a lab culture. The researchers then transferred244 of the nuclei to the stripped-down eggs of Scottish blackface ewes.This experiment produced five genetically identical Welsh mountain lambs,two of which died within 1 days of birth for reasons that remain unclear(Adler 148). Genethics. This experiment was conducted with the embryo cells of Welshmountain sheep grown in the laboratory. "Bidding Bye-Bye to the Black Sheep?" Science News (March 9, 1996), 148."Animal pharmacy" U.S. Yet,the real question is whether genetic experiments on human beings, includingthe cloning of human beings, is an ethical expenditure of time and money. He also notes thatsexual procreation involves two people becoming proxies in the creation oflife and in so investing the world with value. Heyd further notes that the creation of a different sort of offspringgoes against human biology and psychology: This approach to procreation also explains the sense in which we think of certain genetic or educational manipulations as dehumanizing. It is suggestedthat this will make it possible one day to produce cattle with leaner meatand cows that produce low-fat milk. Genetics today is on the cutting edge of biological science.Geneticists have already accomplished much with new strains of grains,plants, and even certain farm animals. Cloning is one of the techniques being used in geneticresearch and offers the promise of the development of new strains of plantsand animals with specific traits. Only a small fraction ofoffspring grew up bearing the foreign genes. A company would first select cellsfor cloning from prize animals and would then improve them further, such aswith a gene that makes the animals produce milk rich in a therapeuticprotein. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992.Nichols, Mark. Works CitedAdler, Tina. An embryo has no more than 3 or 4 usable cells,while a culture usually features an almost endless supply. As a result, the profession has developedstringent and specific regulations and requirements for allowing suchtesting, including the requirement for informed consent by the subjects ofsuch experiments. Before livestockstart producing drugs commercially, though, someone must invent ways toextract the drugs from milk, which is a trifling problem compared withthe decade it took to develop transgenic animals ("Animal Pharmacy" 1 ) This new genetic technology has raised a number of ethical issues evenwith reference to what has been done to date on plants and animals, andeven greater issues are being raised with the potential for experiments onhuman genetic material. The sorts of genetic changes science has been seeking can be seen inthe recently announcement by a combination of U.S. We create in this sense inthe context of already existing beings--we do not create new people in anempty world and so must re-produce. Geneticengineering with these donor cells is more feasible because a lab culturecan supply so many cells to manipulate. Medical experimentation on human beings is often anecessary component in medical discovery and progress, and the medicalestablishment recognizes this fact as well as the many dangers that comewith such experimentation. The new method makes it possible, when perfected, toproduce thousands of identical sheep and cattle at a time. They do not degrade the subject, since it is a potential person whose identity is thus formed; but they undermine the continuity of the human species, they make us less human in our genesis behavior (Heyd 217-218). But we have no interest in exact mirror-images or in indistinguishable copies (Heyd 217). "Send in the Clones." Maclean's (March 18, 1996), 55. To create thelivestock, genes were inserted with a needle into fertilized eggs whichwere then returned to the female's uterus. The new method allows greater fine-tuning and more precise genetic changes in the cells used (Nichols 55). The method is called nuclear transfer andreplaces the nucleus of an immature egg with a nucleus from another cell.In earlier methods, scientists obtained replacement nuclei directly fromcells in embryos, but the new method uses nuclei from cells grown in alaboratory culture. This experiment at the Roslin Institute in Scotland comes after adecade of the use of genetic technology to produce biologically identicalcopies of animals, but the old method limited the number of clones thatcould be produced. Theresearchers expect to combine the method with genetic engineering to createanimals with specific traits. Heyd offers a moral rationale forchallenging the idea that the cloning of human beings should be allowed.Heyd states that pure reproduction in the form of creating further exactspecimens or copies through a process such a cloning cannot be a model for"fruitfulness" and creativity, for this goes against the norm of humanexistence and against what we really want: We want our offspring to be sufficiently like us so we can see them as our continuants, sufficiently similar to us so we can have a meaningful rapport with them.

If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:

Search for:

or

We can write a Custom Essay just for you.


Browse Essays by Subject