Thursday, January 25, 2018

Chinese Scientists Successfully Clone Two Monkeys

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Summary:
Recently, scientists in China have cloned two monkeys by the names of Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua. This event is significant because it is the first time that primates have been cloned ever. Ever since Dolly the Sheep was cloned in 1996, scientists have replicated the process with other types of animals but never primates until just recently. By cloning monkeys, scientists get closer to figuring out if it is possible to clone a human being. Although scientists claim they will only be using the clones for medical studies, it is likely that the process used on the monkeys will be studied to see if it is able to be replicated on humans. One important point is that it took over 125 different trials on different eggs until they were able to clone successfully. This means that the process will most likely not be used on humans any time soon because of the high probability of failure.

Opinion/Connection:
This scientific breakthrough relates to what we are currently learning about the court system. We currently have laws regulating the ways that humans are to be used as test subjects and these laws follow a code of ethics. The same principle applies to cloning and I anticipate that there will be lots of debating morals in the future about if it is ethical to clone a human being. This will likely be decided in a court of law either on a country by country basis or as an international decision. Personally, I think that even if cloning humans is banned, it will eventually happen. I also think that cloning could introduce tons of new problems in the way of national security.

Question:
Scientific advancements tend to solve problems but also can create new, possibly more dangerous issues in our world. Do you think that cloning will be an overall positive or negative discovery?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I don't think that cloning humans will ever be a thing, or maybe it's just so weird that I can't even imagine it happening. Like why do you want to clone yourself anyways? For the vines? But like most discoveries, I think that advances in science are always good, and even though the ethical issues must be reconciled, this is still a great step forward.

Anonymous said...

While the idea of cloning animals and humans is intriguing and initially seems compelling, I agree with Jason in that I don't see the point in cloning humans. It seems like one of those things where just because we can potentially do it doesn't mean we should. Along those lines, I think that cloning humans will have an overall negative impact on our society because it will pose a lot of ethical questions for the scientists and subjects, in addition to some probable legal complications for the cloned humans as members of society.

Anonymous said...

Although cloning in practice is achievable, it is not feasible to clone humans. I believe that clones could possibly be used in the medical field for the benefit of all. Additionally, I believe that cloning could have a potential for ethical violations or possible rights violations.