Cloning : Cloning is a process, where each cell is equipped with genetic information of an organism, which has the ability to develop into full organism.
In contrast, in sexual reproduction, the progeny inherits genetic material in equal amount from both the parents.
Cloning in animals is used to produce duplicates of animals. First successfully cloned animal was a sheep called Dolly in the year 1997 at Roslin Institute of Technology, Scotland. Since then, a large number of animals have been cloned.
The following are India’s achievements in animal cloning:
1. Samrupa: In 2009, the world’s first cloned buffalo calf, named Samrupa, was developed by National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal, Haryana. But unlike Dolly, the first mammal cloned 13 years ago, who lived for seven years, Samrupa succumbed to a lung infection just five days after it was born.
2. Garima: It was the world’s second cloned buffalo at NDRI in Karnal, Haryana. It was developed in 2009 and survived for more than two years. It died because of heart failure in 2011.
3. Cirb Gaurav: In 2016, the scientists at the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) in Hisar, Haryana, cloned a buffalo offspring named ‘Cirb Gaurav’.
Human Cloning
The process of creating a genetically identical copy of a human being, human cell or human tissue is called human cloning.
Process of Cloning
Human cloning is performed by somatic cell (any cell in the body other than sperm and egg, the two types of reproductive cells) nucleus transfer to an enucleated egg (an egg cell whose nucleus has been removed). The egg so obtained is thereafter, stimulated by electric shock and chemicals to initiate division. Within a week, this single cell becomes a ball of mass having around 150 unspecialised cells.
This stage of development is called ‘blastocyst’. The blastocyst is inserted into the uterus of a surrogate mother to complete the process of embryonic development.
There are two types of cloning: reproductive and therapeutic. The difference between the two is listed below:
1. In reproductive cloning, the newly created embryo is placed back into the uterus, where it can develop into an individual. Reproductive cloning is the production of a genetic duplicate of an existing organism. A human clone would be a genetic copy of an existing person.
2. Therapeutic cloning involves the replication of human embryos in order to harvest stem cells for medical uses. In therapeutic cloning, an embryo is created in a similar manner, but the resulting ‘cloned’ cells are stored in the lab; they are not implanted into a female’s uterus. We will learn about the stem cells later in this chapter.
Concerns over Reproductive Human Cloning
Reproductive human cloning is opposed on various ethical grounds.
1. It may undermine society’s respect for human life. It may happen that clones are treated as secondary race or even as slaves.
2. It may affect the social institutions such as marriage and family . Single parent may go for reproductive cloning. Thus, the institution of marriage may be affected.
Children born out of reproductive cloning may be treated secondary in the family. A cloned son of a man would be his identical twin. This would create a set of very complicated family relations. Thus, the institution of family may be affected.
3. Reproductive Cloning (RC) may create a global security concern. Nations or even terrorist organizations may create cloned armies.
4. The RC may emphasize on infusing desirable trait in clones. This may promote the concept of ‘designer babies’, babies who are genetically engineered to exhibit desirable characteristics.
5. Experiments and research on cloning require working on embryos. This is opposed because according to some religious organizations, life begins at conception.
How Is RC Different from Surrogacy?
1. Process: In case of cloning, a somatic cell is taken from a donor and is used to create an embryo. This child is born of a single parent and carries his/her DNA only. In an In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) or test tube baby, an egg fertilized by a sperm (creating a zygote) is transferred into the uterus. It creates a progeny similar to normal conception. The child carries the DNA of both his/her parents.
2. Uniqueness of progeny: Biologically, a child from IVF is a unique human (unless he/she has an identical twin), while a cloned child is genetically identical to his/her parents.
3. Lifespan: Shortened lifespan has been reported in many cases of animal cloning. The progeny born out of IVF leads a normal life.
4. Ethical issues: The ethical issues with IVF are not questioned as much as RC. Both IVF and RC help infertile couples and same sex couples with their parenting rights.
This in turn has led to commercialization of IVF and creation of ‘contract mothers’. Many conservatives also believe that it is a commodification of children, where the social perception of motherhood and fatherhood changes and turns the baby into a commodity.