Wesley's+Blog

Throughout the year we were assigned to reflect on things that we learned in anatomy class and put them in the form of a blog. One of the topics that I chose to blog about was the practice of human cloning. Click the link below to view my favorite blog. [|My blog on cloning]

News article blog entry September 14, 2007 By Wesley House

My reflection on this blog:
When we were assigned to wrire a blog on a current issue involving science, the first thing that came to my mind was the issue of human cloning and stem cell research. Before I started blogging I knew I would have to do some serious research on the topic in order to have the most accurate and up-to-date information. I googled "stem cell research" and came up with over a billion different websites. I knew that I would need to narrow it down so I google "stem cell research in human cloning". I found great websites that give all the information I need to know. In the end I primarily based my blog off of an article on [|www.msnbc.com]. In this assignment I not only learned about stem cells and their uses, but I learned how to effectively gather information and research and present it in a efficient manner to its readers. Upon reflecting and thinking back to the time I wrote this article I have learned so much about cells, both inside and outside the classroom. Even when this assignment was finished I continued to gather information on the subject. This topic has become so involved in our society that politics has now become a part of it!

Human and Animal Cloning
I came across a very interesting article on the internet involving cloning**(**[|**http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567589/Cloning.html**]**).** Cloning is one of the most debated topics in the media today. Views towards this subject differ greatly depending on a persons religion, ethics, knowledge, or experience. Scientist see cloning as an oppurtunity for medical research and the advancement of modern medicine. However others tend to see it as unethical. Cloning is the copying of living matter, such as an organism or a cell, and using it in some form of medical research. The copy produced, known as the clone, contains similar genetic and physical charecteristics to its counterpart. Cloning has been around for a very long time. For example, farmers devised breeding techniques in which they cut off a plant and allowed the roots to produce another plant. This technique brought about stonger, larger, and sweeter fruits which enabled the farmers to create plants with certain desired traits. However within the last couple decades scientist have developed [|**gentic engineering**], enabling them to manipulate the key component of life, [|DNA]. This genetic engineering is not limited to only plants, but it can be used on animals as well. They use the animal's DNA to produce clones with new traits such as resistance to certain diseases. The article says that "In the near future scientist hope to bolster population of endangered species by cloning members of the existing population. Someday scientists may even resurrect extinct species by cloning cells from preserved specimens." Picture provided by flickr.com:The most promising aspect of cloning is the plethora of advancements it adds to medical knowledge. Someday in the near future scientist hope to clone animals with human diseases and test the safety and effectiveness of treatments for humans. "Some scientists even imagine a day when cloning could be a part of a process that grows entire organs for transplants."However not everyone is so optimistic when it comes to cloning. Some argue that cloning, without proper regulations, can lead to the manipulation of animals and even babies to create more athletic, beautiful, and intelligent clones. Some fear that it is an interference with the will of God. My opinion on the matter is that cloning should be allowed with proper regulations to keep things in control. I believe it would be a great idea to grow certain organs for needed transplants or to clone certain bacterias in order to manipulate them. However, I believe it is wrong to clone babies or humans in order to obtian certain charecteristics. When the word 'cloning' pops up in a conversation people immediatley associate it with the replication of humans, when in reality it can be as simple as plants and bacteria. I personally believe cloning is a good idea when kept under control.

One of the comments I received goes as follows:**
 * After writing this blog I received some very interesting comments from a number of people. Some of the people who commented on my blog praised it as being truthful and unbiased to researchers, while others maligned the blog claiming that cloning is against everything we have been taught. Whether or not a person believes in cloning, it has become a very heated issue in our society and can potentially have a drastic change in the future of science and technology.

"I agree with you in that for cloning to be succesful it needs to be kept under control. It should only be used for medical purposes only. I think it is amazing how advanced we have become and i think that cloning can be very helpful if used for the right reasons"

Another person, who opposes the idea of cloning, commented as follows: [|Ty]onSeptember 17, 2007at10:45 PM 0star(s) awardedThank you Wesley, for that extremely informative and interesting article. There is alot of things to think about. Like is it right to almost recreate life? Does regulation still make it right? Is it alright to create the "perfect child" through science and genetic modification rather than accept what God created? These questions will only grow along with the scientific advances.

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