When the first cloned animal, Dolly, beat the news, the most eyes popped-out in complete disbelief. Cloning was only the matter of scientific discussion few years ago and no one yet imagined it would soon turn into a reality. In general terms, cloning is production of genetic duplicates which can grow up genetically identical individual organisms. Ever since it became a prospect, pros and cons of cloning have been passionately debated over on ethical, moral and technical grounds.
Cloning provides more supply of plants, more agriculture and greener environments in specific areas and better plants. Some pros of plants cloning are cited fairly often. For example, cloning could help to reproduce plants which are more disease resistant than non-cloning one. Reproducing the best quality plants or crops, especially those with high nutritional value, could help deal with world hunger problems. Cloned plants are more predictable that could help to saving millions of dollars in agricultural costs, and plants near extinction could be saved through the right cloning programs.
There have the similar advantages with the cloning of domestic animals, such as they provide food sources. Animal cloning could help to produce superior food, produce more disease resistant domestic animals and address problems of world hunger. Rare and endemic animals might be protected from extinction, especially those whose do not reproduce in changing environmental conditions.
Many people see fewer extremely conflicted advantages and disadvantages of plants and animals cloning, but there are some disadvantages to consider. First, efforts to fully clone or genetically engineer animal and plant species could consequence in lack of necessary DNA diversity. Diversity of DNA helps to develop survivability in the future, particularly when unpredictable occurrences come along. Specialists cannot predict potential increase of viruses or infectious diseases of destruction to a cloned species might have to respond in the future.
For example, if scientists come to a decision to clone all the rice variety in the world, then they will gradually produce only one variety, much more nutritional and beneficial than others. Other rice variety is not produced anymore and its DNA variants disappear with time. Once a time in the future, a disease or virus hits the rice and wholly destroys it, and the earth suddenly lacks rice.
This is probably the biggest disadvantage to cloning, and the most frequently cited. Cloning of a plant or animal can underestimate the opportunity of the need for genetic diversity in the future. Similar problems could arise for cloned domestic animals, especially if they completely replaced the animals that created genetic diversity through normal breeding processes.
Another disadvantage of animals cloning is potential cost. At present, it is far more costly to clone animals than to reproduce by other means. Rate of failure remains high, though it is expected to be reduced if cloning is carried out on a wider range. Cost influences another of the advantages and disadvantages of cloning food supply animals. Many people feel great unwillingness to eat meat from cloned animals, which might lower the market value of cloned animals.
Pros and cons of humans cloning are more complicated. Potential benefits of human cloning definitely exist. Among these is the probability of cloning parts of humans, like very important organs to be applied in transplants that would be likely to reduce organ rejection problems. Some people believe that cloning humans are not able to have their children or who lose their children at a very early age is among the advantages of developing human cloning.
Disadvantages include the processes for cloning, that when they include fertilized embryos, are considered ethically repugnant by some. Others think that the idea of human cloning is "playing God." Another concern exists if people make a decision to clone super kids. What would come about to the average people who are not produced by cloning? This is fodder for legitimate ethical, legal, and scientific debate and a lot of science fiction movies.
The environmental impact of cloning of plant can be quite determinable to natural plants and to the human-made cloned plants. The cloned plant has a stem cell or has a disease that will show up in all other plants and may carry contagious diseases which will kill fit and healthy normal plants.
On the other hand, once a large supply of those plants has been made its genetic structure is exactly same and the issues with those are that there would be an increasingly decreasing number of endemic plants with various characteristics. Those cloned plants could multiply at a high rate causing an epidemic; this in turn can adversely affect other plants and can be even destroy them.
However, most of the people believe that cloning of plants and animals might change the method humans reproduce and destroy human dignity. Some others believe it is a violation of human rights and unethical. There are also the technical and cost barriers!
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