Post by Roger Moorgate on Jun 7, 2007 18:42:04 GMT -5
*** UPDATE: August 2008 ***
I have been too busy of late to answer cloning questions and delete spam from this forum. Please visit the Human Cloning Foundation website to post new cloning and stem cell questions:
www.humancloning.org/phpbb3
They have several moderators registered that can answer your questions relatively quickly. It takes a minute or two to register, but registration is a necessary hassle as forums that do not require registration (like mine) quickly become spammed into oblivion!
Kind regards,
Roger Moorgate
Administrator for the Reproductive Cloning Network
This is the sixth cloning FAQ page.
The first page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1132077294&page=1
The second page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1132077294&page=2
The third page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1132077294&page=3
The forth page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1150053885&page=1
The fifth page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1150053885&page=2
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
Ok, now on to your questions...
cheers
Hi Jake,
The primary argument for not allowing reproductive human cloning is safety. A significantly higher proportion of animals produced through somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning) suffer from developmental defects and die prematurely. The incidence of developmental problems is highly variable dependent on species and experimental conditions, but some would argue that conceiving children via cloning would be human experimentation and would constitute child abuse, this is the AGAINST position. The primary argument for allowing reproductive human cloning is reproductive freedom. Some would argue that human beings have a fundamental right to reproduce without governmental or third party interference. This is especially poignant for the subset of the infertile who can’t conceive a biologically related child via any other method, that is the FOR position. These positions, despite their initial diametrically opposing stance, are actually not entirely mutually exclusive. For example, personally, I am currently AGAINST reproductive human cloning being permitted due to the safety concerns. However, if the safety issues are worked out, then I consider myself FOR reproductive human cloning being permitted based on the philosophy of reproductive freedom, which I consider to be an inalienable human right. I hope this answers your question.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Hi Elvis, most Hollywood movies that deal with the subject of cloning portray it as a dangerous technology that can create huge cloned armies (Star wars) or be used to clone evil people (Boys from Brazil). However, in reality cloning would be little more dangerous than in vitro fertilization. In order to produce an army cloned from a favored soldier a dictator would need an army of mothers to raise his clones from infants, as a clone would be born as a child not a adult soldier and this dictator would then need the resources and the patience to wait the better part of two decades before his cloned babies reach maturity. Then, because environmental conditions are more potent in shaping personality than genetics, the dictator may well end up with a group of cloned adults that refuse to be incorporated into his evil army. Most dictators would find it easier and more effective to indoctrinate the present population, rather than attempt such an impractical cloning approach. The nature-nurture issue also affects the cloning Hitler proposal as there is negligible chance that a clone of Hitler would be an evil anti-semite, as these personality traits were forged by the extreme environment in which Hitler lived. The “bad things” portrayed in the cloning movies are completely impractical when scrutinized closely. I hope this answers your question.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Hi Loopan, and I quote:
“Therapeutic cloning refers to a procedure which produces cells, specific body parts, and organs to be utilized for medical purposes. This has not yet been realized, but it is the subject of much active research. Currently, patients subjected to transplantation are administered immunosuppressive drugs to prevent recognition of the foreign transplant by their immune system and its subsequent rejection. The ability to clonally derive tissues and organs from the patients' own cells would abolish the need for immunosuppressive drugs and would allow the patients to live a life without the potentially serious side-effects of immunosuppressive drugs. More importantly, the ability to clonally derive organs would alleviate the current shortage of transplants and would possibly reduce waiting times for transplants to become available.” (Wikipedia)
Basically a embryo is cloned from a patient’s skin cell DNA. An embryonic stem cell line is derived from that cloned embryo. This embryonic stem cell line can be used to cure the original patient. For example, if that patient had diabetes, then get a skin cell, clone an embryo, get an embryonic stem cell line, turn the stem cells into insulin-secreting cells and transplant them back into the patient. The cloned cells would be genetically identical to the patient so they won’t be rejected and the release of insulin will cure the patient’s diabetes. That’s the concept behind therapeutic cloning.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
1.
2.
3.
Hi SMT, the three arguments I hear most frequently are:
1. Because the safety of the human reproductive cloning procedure is currently unknown.
2. Because the cloning procedure is currently very inefficient and wasteful of eggs.
3. Because it’s against some strongly held religious and/or ethical convictions.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Hi Student,
The disadvantages of cloning? I guess the primary disadvantage of cloning as a reproductive technique is that it is currently highly inefficient and unproven.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Hi Wong, it’s interesting that you specify ‘a student’. If you are hoping to have a clone to help you out in exams or share your workload then think again. This whole cloning=copying concept is a pure work of fiction dreamt up by Hollywood. A clone would be born as a child and therefore be of little academic benefit to a student unless he or she was completely infertile and desperately wanted a child.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Really it is possible in case of man. I am also working in this area but not man.
I think it is not posible true to type man
Thank you
Hi Uzzal,
Which mammalian species are you cloning? I’m not sure we can extrapolate results between certain species, for example mice and humans. Mice oocytes are tiny and fragile in comparison to human oocytes, thus the cloning methodologies will invariably be different. Some species, such as dogs, have proven much harder to clone than others, for example cows. Unless you are performing cloning in the non-human primate then I would be hesitant in drawing too firm a conclusion from your research.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
My email is: bren.grim@yahoo.com
Please and thank you; and, of course, continue your work on educating the world. – Bren (repost)
Hi Bren, I appreciate your comment and I apologise for the late reply, I only get to answering message board questions once in a blue moon. I haven’t actually been using the email listing for notification as it starting getting blocked a while ago; the servers probably thought it was spam. I guess the only way for you to check for new content is to occasionally check the site, sorry about that.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Hi Miguel, apart from the safety and inefficiency issues that I’ve mentioned above, I don’t actually think cloning is “bad”.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
I've got some questions about cloning as well - i m not quite familiar with the difficulties of cloning, but i m interested in it.........
there s some questions i ve got about it
1.) - is an identical twin essentially the same as a clone?
2.) - could the DNA be manipulated so that the clone would get hyper- intelligent or esspecially talented at sth.?
3.) - could you clone somebody's who's already dead, like artificial reincarnation?
4.) - could you grow organs without cloning a whole human or animal (organism)
So that s it so far - i hope you can help me and answer my questions as soon as possible!!!
Hi Kelly, I’ll try to answer the questions in the order you posed them:
1.) - is an identical twin essentially the same as a clone?
Yes, except that a clone would be born as a child and thus be a different age.
2.) - could the DNA be manipulated so that the clone would get hyper- intelligent or esspecially talented at sth.?
Yes, genetic modification is an interesting and controversial field of contemporary research, although most of it is focused on removing negative genetic diseases than adding positive genetic traits. Modifying the germ line is much more dangerous than cloning. Cloning is making a genetic copy. Genetic engineering (GE) is changing the genome itself, and I would suggest that we are currently too ignorant to safely attempt GE in anything other than animals.
3.) - could you clone somebody's who's already dead, like artificial reincarnation?
Yes, you could clone from someone who had recently died, as long as some of their skin cells are still alive then you can clone from those cells. Also, if a skin cell biopsy is taken and a primary skin cell line is derived and frozen, then a person could be cloned from that cell line long after their death.
4.) - could you grow organs without cloning a whole human or animal (organism)
Not currently, but this is the holy grail of therapeutic cloning research. We can currently grow functional beating heart tissue from embryonic stem cells, but this is a long way off from a fully functional heart.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Hi Lulu, here’s a quick 5 step explanation of how to clone a person.
1. Remove the DNA from a human egg (oocyte)
2. Put the DNA from another persons skin cell into that oocyte.
3. Activate that oocyte with a chemical that mimics fertilization.
4. Culture the cloned embryo in vitro until it begins to divide.
5. Transfer the cloned embryo into a woman uterus and wait nine months.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
I have been too busy of late to answer cloning questions and delete spam from this forum. Please visit the Human Cloning Foundation website to post new cloning and stem cell questions:
www.humancloning.org/phpbb3
They have several moderators registered that can answer your questions relatively quickly. It takes a minute or two to register, but registration is a necessary hassle as forums that do not require registration (like mine) quickly become spammed into oblivion!
Kind regards,
Roger Moorgate
Administrator for the Reproductive Cloning Network
This is the sixth cloning FAQ page.
The first page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1132077294&page=1
The second page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1132077294&page=2
The third page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1132077294&page=3
The forth page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1150053885&page=1
The fifth page can be found here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1150053885&page=2
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
Ok, now on to your questions...
Jake said:
I am a Year 12 biology student and am currently completing an essay for a school assignment. The topic I have chosen to do is reproductive cloning and I am looking for any information typically about why it should be banned and why it should be allowed. My email address is jake_lrclarke@hotmail.com. I would appreciate any help with this.cheers
Hi Jake,
The primary argument for not allowing reproductive human cloning is safety. A significantly higher proportion of animals produced through somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning) suffer from developmental defects and die prematurely. The incidence of developmental problems is highly variable dependent on species and experimental conditions, but some would argue that conceiving children via cloning would be human experimentation and would constitute child abuse, this is the AGAINST position. The primary argument for allowing reproductive human cloning is reproductive freedom. Some would argue that human beings have a fundamental right to reproduce without governmental or third party interference. This is especially poignant for the subset of the infertile who can’t conceive a biologically related child via any other method, that is the FOR position. These positions, despite their initial diametrically opposing stance, are actually not entirely mutually exclusive. For example, personally, I am currently AGAINST reproductive human cloning being permitted due to the safety concerns. However, if the safety issues are worked out, then I consider myself FOR reproductive human cloning being permitted based on the philosophy of reproductive freedom, which I consider to be an inalienable human right. I hope this answers your question.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Elvis said:
If cloning was legal Do you think that it would eventually fall into the wrong hands and be used for bad things?Hi Elvis, most Hollywood movies that deal with the subject of cloning portray it as a dangerous technology that can create huge cloned armies (Star wars) or be used to clone evil people (Boys from Brazil). However, in reality cloning would be little more dangerous than in vitro fertilization. In order to produce an army cloned from a favored soldier a dictator would need an army of mothers to raise his clones from infants, as a clone would be born as a child not a adult soldier and this dictator would then need the resources and the patience to wait the better part of two decades before his cloned babies reach maturity. Then, because environmental conditions are more potent in shaping personality than genetics, the dictator may well end up with a group of cloned adults that refuse to be incorporated into his evil army. Most dictators would find it easier and more effective to indoctrinate the present population, rather than attempt such an impractical cloning approach. The nature-nurture issue also affects the cloning Hitler proposal as there is negligible chance that a clone of Hitler would be an evil anti-semite, as these personality traits were forged by the extreme environment in which Hitler lived. The “bad things” portrayed in the cloning movies are completely impractical when scrutinized closely. I hope this answers your question.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
loopan said:
what the hell is theraputic cloning!?!?!?Hi Loopan, and I quote:
“Therapeutic cloning refers to a procedure which produces cells, specific body parts, and organs to be utilized for medical purposes. This has not yet been realized, but it is the subject of much active research. Currently, patients subjected to transplantation are administered immunosuppressive drugs to prevent recognition of the foreign transplant by their immune system and its subsequent rejection. The ability to clonally derive tissues and organs from the patients' own cells would abolish the need for immunosuppressive drugs and would allow the patients to live a life without the potentially serious side-effects of immunosuppressive drugs. More importantly, the ability to clonally derive organs would alleviate the current shortage of transplants and would possibly reduce waiting times for transplants to become available.” (Wikipedia)
Basically a embryo is cloned from a patient’s skin cell DNA. An embryonic stem cell line is derived from that cloned embryo. This embryonic stem cell line can be used to cure the original patient. For example, if that patient had diabetes, then get a skin cell, clone an embryo, get an embryonic stem cell line, turn the stem cells into insulin-secreting cells and transplant them back into the patient. The cloned cells would be genetically identical to the patient so they won’t be rejected and the release of insulin will cure the patient’s diabetes. That’s the concept behind therapeutic cloning.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
SMT said:
Someone please give me three good reasons why reproductive cloning should be forbidden, please. 1.
2.
3.
Hi SMT, the three arguments I hear most frequently are:
1. Because the safety of the human reproductive cloning procedure is currently unknown.
2. Because the cloning procedure is currently very inefficient and wasteful of eggs.
3. Because it’s against some strongly held religious and/or ethical convictions.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
student said:
what are the disadvantages of cloning?Hi Student,
The disadvantages of cloning? I guess the primary disadvantage of cloning as a reproductive technique is that it is currently highly inefficient and unproven.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
wong said:
what is the benefits for a student to be cloned Hi Wong, it’s interesting that you specify ‘a student’. If you are hoping to have a clone to help you out in exams or share your workload then think again. This whole cloning=copying concept is a pure work of fiction dreamt up by Hollywood. A clone would be born as a child and therefore be of little academic benefit to a student unless he or she was completely infertile and desperately wanted a child.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Uzzal said:
HelloReally it is possible in case of man. I am also working in this area but not man.
I think it is not posible true to type man
Thank you
Hi Uzzal,
Which mammalian species are you cloning? I’m not sure we can extrapolate results between certain species, for example mice and humans. Mice oocytes are tiny and fragile in comparison to human oocytes, thus the cloning methodologies will invariably be different. Some species, such as dogs, have proven much harder to clone than others, for example cows. Unless you are performing cloning in the non-human primate then I would be hesitant in drawing too firm a conclusion from your research.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Brenpost said:
In an unrelated area, Roger, if you're not too busy, could you possibly add me to a mailing list of some sort to receive updates no the 'cloning issue'?My email is: bren.grim@yahoo.com
Please and thank you; and, of course, continue your work on educating the world. – Bren (repost)
Hi Bren, I appreciate your comment and I apologise for the late reply, I only get to answering message board questions once in a blue moon. I haven’t actually been using the email listing for notification as it starting getting blocked a while ago; the servers probably thought it was spam. I guess the only way for you to check for new content is to occasionally check the site, sorry about that.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Miguel said:
Why is cloning bad? Hi Miguel, apart from the safety and inefficiency issues that I’ve mentioned above, I don’t actually think cloning is “bad”.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
kelly said:
hello, I've got some questions about cloning as well - i m not quite familiar with the difficulties of cloning, but i m interested in it.........
there s some questions i ve got about it
1.) - is an identical twin essentially the same as a clone?
2.) - could the DNA be manipulated so that the clone would get hyper- intelligent or esspecially talented at sth.?
3.) - could you clone somebody's who's already dead, like artificial reincarnation?
4.) - could you grow organs without cloning a whole human or animal (organism)
So that s it so far - i hope you can help me and answer my questions as soon as possible!!!
Hi Kelly, I’ll try to answer the questions in the order you posed them:
1.) - is an identical twin essentially the same as a clone?
Yes, except that a clone would be born as a child and thus be a different age.
2.) - could the DNA be manipulated so that the clone would get hyper- intelligent or esspecially talented at sth.?
Yes, genetic modification is an interesting and controversial field of contemporary research, although most of it is focused on removing negative genetic diseases than adding positive genetic traits. Modifying the germ line is much more dangerous than cloning. Cloning is making a genetic copy. Genetic engineering (GE) is changing the genome itself, and I would suggest that we are currently too ignorant to safely attempt GE in anything other than animals.
3.) - could you clone somebody's who's already dead, like artificial reincarnation?
Yes, you could clone from someone who had recently died, as long as some of their skin cells are still alive then you can clone from those cells. Also, if a skin cell biopsy is taken and a primary skin cell line is derived and frozen, then a person could be cloned from that cell line long after their death.
4.) - could you grow organs without cloning a whole human or animal (organism)
Not currently, but this is the holy grail of therapeutic cloning research. We can currently grow functional beating heart tissue from embryonic stem cells, but this is a long way off from a fully functional heart.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger
Lulu said:
how do u clone people? i know that they use the cells but i mean how does the process work Hi Lulu, here’s a quick 5 step explanation of how to clone a person.
1. Remove the DNA from a human egg (oocyte)
2. Put the DNA from another persons skin cell into that oocyte.
3. Activate that oocyte with a chemical that mimics fertilization.
4. Culture the cloned embryo in vitro until it begins to divide.
5. Transfer the cloned embryo into a woman uterus and wait nine months.
Regards,
Roger
Admin, The Reproductive Cloning Network
www.reproductivecloning.net
You can register as a new member of this board here:
cloning.proboards77.com/index.cgi?action=register
(You can post without registering, but only members can edit their posts)
NB. It may take a while, but every question gets answered eventually! -Roger