Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.
In order to maintain a decent standard of living, humankind inevitably needs a sufficient supply of food to nurture the body. With the unprecedented boost of human population in recent times, a lack in nutritious supply is observed, as the results of natural agriculture cannot possibly satisfy the growing needs of people, in particular, of those dwelling in the lower-developed regions of Asia and Africa. Another issue of especial importance to people is the preservation of endangered species of animals and breeding perfect samples of a kind since the achievement of the desired objective in purely biological ways is more a matter of luck and long-term careful selection the result of which may not always meet the naturalists’ expectations. Both issues mentioned have been attracting the attention of biological science for years on end, and nowadays the achievements of genetics have made it possible to solve those problems by means of animal cloning and engineering. A whole era in cloning has passed since the famous sheep Dolly experiment, and animal clones are now an almost normative biological phenomenon. But however optimistic the picture may look, there still exist a number of ethical and practical issues that call into question the necessity and reasonableness of animal cloning.
The excitement caused among the agriculturists by the prospects of animal cloning cannot be overestimated; which farmer would object to owning a herd of superior performing animals, and which breeding company would not like to gain revenue by selling cloned embryos. But there emerged a number of problems connected with cloned animals. For one thing, abnormalities have been reported to develop in cloned animals, who also suffered health problems throughout their life: “Dolly was diagnosed arthritis at a seemingly young age and cloned mice had a shorter than normal life span” (Niekerk 134). For another thing, the practice of cloning leads to loss of genetic diversity in the herds which in its turn results in biological defects of the animals. Those factors question the humanity of the cloning process. The sufferings of animals taking part in the cloning procedure occur in two stages: the first is marked by embryonic and fetal loss, with the overall efficiency being less than five percent — which makes animal cloning a so far high-cost and low-efficiency enterprise that does not cover the expenses it involves; the second concerns health problems in the surviving embryos that experience such almost obviously attributable to cloning procedure diseases as obesity, hypertension, osteoporosis, and anemia (Levine 80, 83).
In addition to a certain degree of suffering experienced by cloned animals, there exists a danger both for transgenic animals and for people consuming genetically modified products. Biological products can leak into the blood of transgenic animals that are producing them, and some of such products constitute a danger to the normal bodily functions of the animal. Dangerous implications of cloned animals for human beings are seen in transgenic fish escaping into nature and cross-breeding or competing with the population, possibly introducing a protein that is potentially toxic or allergic to humans. (Niekerk 129–132)
Contributing to the issue of ethical appropriateness of cloning is the case of pets cloning. Many people develop such an attachment to their domestic favorites that upon their decease cannot put up with the loss; a clone of the pet would seem to be a perfect substitute and solution for the situation. But there emerges an issue of the cloned animal perishing too soon due to its cloned nature, or it’s not inheriting some of the desired qualities of its predecessor due to mistakes in reading the DNA code. All of that would leave the owner dissatisfied and distressed. In the case of cloning endangered species for preservation, however, good intentions may be driving the scientists, but the basic problem of the environment due to which animals become instinct remains unsolved thus nullifying the cloning efforts. Besides, obtaining genetic material can endanger the remaining representatives of the species.
On the whole, with all the current success of the cloning industry, it still remains a disputable terrain that needs careful ethical consideration in order to avoid dramatic consequences for humankind and the planet.
References
Levine, Aaron D. Cloning. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2009.
Niekerk, Alvin van, ed. Ethics in Agriculture — an African Perspective. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer, 2005.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.