Cloning and its impact

on the environment

Anastasia Karpovskaya

Irkutsk

International readings

devoted to the

activities of UNESCO

Our century is rich in

discoveries in biology.

Especially, genetics being a

young science accompanied

by debates and discussions,

has made a significant

breakthrough. The progress

in genetics, and its relation

to molecular biology

revealed a secret of the

emergence of human. The

achievements in cloning

caused a lot of questions

about it. On the one hand,

there are new opportunities.

On the other hand, the

necessity arises to consider

ethical, social and

environmental aspects.

Cloning is the process

of creating a copy of a

biological entity. In

genetics, it refers to the

process of making an

identical copy of the

DNA of an organism.

Cloning happens quite

frequently in nature.

Asexual reproduction in

certain organisms and

the development of

twins from a single

fertilized egg are both

instances of Cloning.

Firstly, the word clone was used for group of plants, which grown by one plant-maker

by vegetative reproduction. Later clone was known as not just all such group, but as

every individual plant in this group. Over time, the meaning of clone has expanded

and it began to be used for growing cultures of bacteria. Then the term of cloning was

used to name the production of all lines of the organisms, which are identical for the

first and they are his descendants. Now the technology of human cloning is not

processed well.

Advantages of cloning



Cloning may be

used to help

endangered species



It could also improve

food supply by

creating more plants

and livestock



Designer Babies



Prolonged life



Organ Harvesting



Medical

Advancement Boom

Disadvantages of

cloning



A Further Divide



Risk of Mutation. .

When you are dealing

with genes, there is

always a risk that

mutation could occur.



Development Of New

Diseases



Insufficient Research



Clone Rights?

UNESCO is strongly

against

of human cloning

Because of unconfirmed reports of emergence of cloned

human, the General Director of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura

talked about categorical condemnation of any research and

practical work, connected with reproductive cloning of human.

He convinced the world community to adopt an international

legal instrument to prohibit such an activity.

•By creating herds of cloned

animals that have the same genetic

composition, either entirely or with

respect to some particular traits, the

diversity of those animals is

significantly reduced.

•The environmental impact of plant

cloning can be quite detrimental

because if the plant cloned has a

disease or has a stem cell that is

not right it will show up in every

other crop.

•Cloning may replace sexual

reproduction and reduce the

genetic diversity.

•The range of potential

environmental impacts associated

with the proliferation of cloned

animals and plants has not been

thoroughly investigated and is

largely unknown and uncertain.

As a result we found out,

that: