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Many people think that the desire to improve humans through cloning and genetic engineering is a new phenomenon, but it is not. This desire goes back to time of Plato. In his Republic, Plato proposed the idea of selective breeding assuming that this would improve society. One of the most surprising and undoubtedly controversial births in history happened on February 23, 1997 when Ian Wilmut and a team of scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland announced that they had cloned the first adult mammal. The mammal was a lamb, and her name was Dolly, named after Dolly Parton. Dolly was different than any other mammal ever born because she was created asexually from a single cell in her mother’s udder. The birth of Dolly showed the world that cloning and genetic engineering are very realistic possibilities, and that new discoveries in this area would improve the world of medicine as we know it.
There have been many proposed uses of cloning technology and genetic engineering, which have fueled scientific research in this area. For example, couples who are infertile could clone one of themselves to have a child. If a child were to die, parents could replace that child. Nuclei transfer from adult cells could be used to create people of great genius, athletic or musical ability. Scientists could genetically engineer and clone animals and plants that produce higher quality food. In addition, animals with human genetic material could be used to cure human diseases. An animal’s organs could be altered so that they would compatible with human organs. Lastly, endangered species could be cloned to ensure that they never become extinct.
Genetic engineering includes both gene therapy, in which one can put a new gene over a defective one, and genetic enhancement. Genetic enhancement involves the manipulation of the egg to improve the genetic code of a human being. This idea of genetic enhancement started in the late 1980’s when scientists were genetically altering food by taking genetic material from fish, bacteria, viruses, and insects and adding it to fruits, grains, and vegetables to improve the durability of the food and the quality. In 1992 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that genetically engineered food is safe and does not need their approval before marketing.
In the 1990’s scientists also began experimenting with mass-producing drugs by inserting human genes into bacteria. Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a Connecticut biotech company who is currently doing research on injecting pig embryos with human genes so the pigs can be used as organ donors for humans. Like we have already seen, it is possible for a human to live with a pig’s heart.
Researchers are now trying out a genetic therapy to grow new blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis, to help patients with clogged arteries. In a study of 16 patients, the new therapy reduced the frequency of angina episodes from 50 per week to about three per week, a significant difference to say the least. This is only one example of the countless that would help patients with diseases or health problems.
In another study, conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, Chris Benz, M.D. and his colleagues have carried out animal studies to help women with breast cancer. They claim that with the duplication of the gene erb-B2’s protein, breast cancer could be more easily cured than by chemotherapy.
Researchers are also now experimenting with patients who have Hemophilia. They are developing “protocols for adenovirus mediated gene therapy” for the treatment of this disease. According to the study, mice survived tail clipping with minimal blood loss after being vector treated. This is only one more example of the positive effects that would come with genetic engineering and cloning.
There is no doubt that cloning continues to leap forward. Scientific discoveries in regard to cloning are being made everyday. After the birth of Dolly, scientists in Hawaii did the same trick, only this time with mice. A team in Japan says that it expects to have a small herd of calves cloned from the ears and rumps of adult cows in the near future.
Just recently, the same company that cloned Dolly produced the first cloned pigs. The piglets were delivered by Caesarean section at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. The five little piggies names’ are Millie, Christa, Alexis, Carrel, and Dotcom. The birth of these five little piggies raises hopes for a new source of transplants for humans. The five female pigs were cloned from an adult sow named Destiny using a slightly different technique than the one that produced Dolly.
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