Clones?

[Lucille]

There is a thread which was started asking about gecko clones, and I thought it might be interesting to talk about the larger picture of cloning in general. What are your opinions?


Clones: Yes:
Dinosaur DNA found in amber just like in the movies, lol
Rare but worthy animals on the verge of extinction


Clones: Maybe
Animals in a lab which would be better if genetically identical for certain research such as cancer research.

Clones: No
Ex husbands in particular but humans in general;

Although see below, I would encourage the technology to grow cloned individual organ cells to prevent transplant failure and extend life where a person, especially a child, would otherwise face an early death.




I do think that within several generations the cloning technique will be better; and I do hope that somehow this process will lead to breakthroughs in medical knowledge, especially for children.

I am hoping that future generations of mothers of children like my older son who has insulin dependent diabetes and a very high statistical chance of dying earlier than a standard lifetime, will possibly be able to look forward to children with a more normal lifespan through technology which may assist them with cloned organs.

In fact skin graft clones are being produced now to help repair the skins of burn victims, but more extensive research may help save patients with other sorts of disease.

 

[shrap]

Be it cloning, be it stem cell research, be it homosexuality, be it cigarettes and alcohol, be it smoking weed or shooting smack, etc.

If you are an adult and your actions are only harmful to yourself then it is your right to do whatever you want in my opinion. What consenting adults do, be it in a scientific environment or in our personal lives should be up to them. If they are not hurting anyone then let them do as they please.

I am so tired of seeing peoples right to choose for themselves being taken away by other peoples personal feelings and agendas. If you don't like or agree with something in life then don't do it and don't be a part of it, but don't try to make that choice for me as well.

 

[PaulSage]

Be it cloning, be it stem cell research, be it homosexuality, be it cigarettes and alcohol, be it smoking weed or shooting smack, etc.

I agree with shrap... none of those things pose a threat to me personally, so I guess I don't much care. I have plenty of other things to worry about; I don't need to concern myself with such issues that just don't affect me directly.

Like lucille said, cloning of skin grafts and such is helping burn victims, and I can't argue with that. I think the media plays a lot on the scare tactics of what cloning has in store, but I guess if I had to formulate an opinion, I'd have to say that the pros definitely out-weigh the cons and that none of it really scares me. As long as nobody plans to clone ME, then I don't much care (but really, who would want to deal with more than one of me anyway?!? )

 

[kiote9]

From what I understand about cloning you have to start the clone right from the very beginning stage, so if you were to clone an adult ANYTHING it would always be far removed from the original. It would grow up in a different set of circumstances and not be EXACTLY like the original anyway.

I don't really understand the point of cloning other than for scientific research. I'm neither for nor against it, just don't see a point to it.

Perhaps someone can provide enlightenment?

 

[Lucille]

Skin is cloned now to provide new skin for burn victims. There is ongoing research to try to clone other body organs to help in cases of organ failure, diabetes, etc.

In addition, the scientific part is vital, as sets of identical cells are exactly what is needed to aid cancer and other research. There are strains of rats used in research that are fairly closely bred, but identical is much better; and when we are talking a major cause of death, cancer research is good.

 

[kiote9]

Oh, see now it goes into a whole different area!

I understand anything that helps easy suffering and heal injury.

The problem comes in when you get to the death controversy. If they are looking for a way to make people live longer and overcome natural causes of death there will be tremendous problems and much arguement.

We do NOT control our population well enough to increase longevity. Nor do we treat the older people well enough. This has the potential to open a can of worms that might best be left closed. Just my opinion.

The skin graft thing is awesome though. I really feel for people who lose skin for whatever reason, it being the largest organ of the body and the most exposed to danger.

I used to work in animal research and have nothing against most forms of research. I find it fascinating for the most part. It's nice to know that SOME forms of research actually do yield useful results.

What I used to do was product testing on rats and rabbits, then later performing Histology on rats/rabbits/mice/dogs/monkeys. We did the work and the report writers skewed the results to show the neessary statistics. There are products on the common market that I will not touch as a result of the testing I've been involved with.

 

[Lucille]

Shelly,
I understand your point of view about the controversy of prolonging life. However, I have a son with insulin dependent diabetes who statistically will die early; if there was a way to revive the insulin production in his body, he could live a normal life length and I want that for him. It would have to be soon as vessel damage in his body is cumulative, I do not think it will happen soon enough for him.
There is some research going on with encapsulated cells introduced into the body of diabetics but since the cells are not cloned, they are rejected by the host after a while.

 

[kiote9]

THAT is the kind of healing that they should be working on Lucille! That type of organ failure is a terrible shame and it seems as though the scientific community should be supported in finding a way to correct such abnormalities. I have a diabetic cousin who had a kidney transplant not too long ago. It is amazing that he has made it as far as he has considering the severity of the diabetes. However, having a "normal" life is and always has been out of the question for him.

Robert Heinlein , the author, dealt with cloning and transplants is many of his books. The idea behind it was to clone a complete body with an underdeveloped brain so that if and or when something bad happened to a person there were replacements waiting...same age, clean and healthy with all defects corrected. Then if the original person died the donor body was given over to someone else who needed it and didn't have a clone. It's an idea......