Eye On CameraWare -- feature

Written by: Staff

Have you ever recalled passing by twins and wondering what it would be like to have an identical copy of yourself? I think most of us have contemplated this at one time or another but at the same time realized that, unless you were born one half of one gene, you are never going to find out. We never had to delve into those feelings nor explore the issue any further than a passing thought. Just a momentary curiosity. A flash of fantasy.Easy come; easy go. Life goes on.

Well, if you haven’t heard this is no longer a fantasy. This is a reality. An exact copy of yourself is scientifically possible. Your twin! An exact copy of your genetic makeup! A whole new you!

The scientific research began long ago within the scientific community so it’s not a new story. They began delving into the possibility of cloning in 1952 with the first successful identical cloning of frogs and have continued through time with many successes and failures, using varying types and methods to achieve their results. The most widespread news on this cloning venture was the introduction of Dolly, who was a historical feat for the scientific community as she was the first to be cloned from an adult cell. So having this knowledge and now the possibility of the research continued on human genetics there seems to be a split as to ethical reasoning as well as the scientific side of reasoning. This split has affected all governments worldwide and has brought upon their shoulders the responsibility of changing their laws, incorporating new laws and ensuring that this research does not run rampant in the scientific community.
This is an ongoing process and not one that is ever going to settle under one law. The reasonings and the issues surrounding those are too strong. There are many fears ethics-wise as to what can occur should this technology fall into the wrong hands or the right hands with ulterior motives. There are concerns of armies being cloned, slaves, mutated genes, and clones created specifically for organs and the list goes on. Those who uphold this new technology base their reasoning on curing disease, increasing populations, improving agriculture, etc.

The amount of information found on the Internet in regards to this issue is abundant due to the high interest in both the scientific aspects and the ethical, which keep this topic on the forefront of everyone’s minds and carefully watched by the media. Where exactly we are going to go from here, genetically, is anyone’s guess and anyone’s argument but it certainly wont be a quiet topic regardless of which direction it may lead.

If you would like to read more upon this topic and related issues, we have listed a few links of interest.

This site has the latest in human cloning issues and news:
http://www.globalchange.com/clonlink.htm

These sites contain everything from laws, research, etc:
http://www.geneletter.org/09-01-00/features/cloning2000d.html
http://www.newscientist.com/nsplus/insight/clone/clone.html

Dolly
These sites contain information on the genetics, ethics and methods:
http://ebooks.whsmithonline.co.uk/encyclopedia/28/F0000228.htm
http://www.biospace.com/b2/whats_new/dolly.cfm