10 Marked Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloning Animals

For hundreds of years, men have tried to clone plants, with the sea urchin cloning attempt occurring in 1894 and some other events recorded, years before that. Cloning, in the simplest terms, is the process of producing or replicating a cell, organism or tissue. Although this can happen naturally, like in single-celled organisms such as bacteria and in identical twins such as mammals and humans, there is also a scientific breakthrough known as artificial cloning done in animals.

In 1996, the world had its experience of the first successful animal cloning. Nowadays, this has become a useful and popular technique to produce transgenic animals, making it promising for commercial and research applications. However, people are having ambivalent feelings when it comes to embracing this scientific phenomenon.

What Are The Three Cloning Methods?

Considered as the most basic method, gene cloning is done by replicating an identical segment of a DNA into several copies and in turn used by scientists in researching specific genes.

The next type is used in to help in curing numerous medical conditions or diseases through the process of replicating stem cells. This is known as therapeutic cloning but has stirred controversies since these cells come from embryos.

The third method is what is known as reproductive cloning. This was the process underwent by “Dolly”, the first successful animal cloning from an adult cell. Born in 1996, Dolly basically had three mothers. The first was the egg donor, while the second one was responsible for the DNA and the third, served as the surrogate and gave birth to “Dolly”. The process was done through somatic cell nuclear transfer. Here, a body cell and an egg cell from are taken from two donors. The nucleus of the body cell is fused with the egg cell which now has no nucleus. The viable embryo is then implanted into the surrogate animal. After the success of the first cloned mammal, other animals were cloned as well in different parts of the world.

Here are some reported successful animal cloning attempts in history:

Asian Carp
In 1953, a carp was cloned and after a decade, another attempt succeeded, this time, a European crucian carp.

Sheep
Born on July 5, 1996, “Dolly” was the ever first successful cloned mammal and lived for five and a half years. Although she lived a normal life, except for having to be kept from the public eye most of her life and kept indoors, she had to be euthanized because she suffered from severe arthritis and a lung disease.

Cows
Japanese scientists also made their share in the science of cloning in 1998 when they cloned “Noto” and “Kaga”, two cows and replicated several thousand of times in their bid to produce superior meat and milk products. During the same year, American scientists also cloned “Mira” and her siblings as genetically engineered animals to be used to produce products that are to be utilized in pharmaceutical applications.

Cat
In 2001, a cat with the nickname “CC” was cloned. This perhaps triggered the controversial pet-cloning industry with owners willing to spend thousands of dollars to bring their departed pets back to life.

Wild Ox
The year 2001 also became part of history with the success of cloning an endangered species known as the bull guar. Although a success, the animal died from infection that showed no relation with the cloning process. This has opened the door to the possibilities of cloning endangered species and preventing them from extinction.

Mule
In 2003, “Idaho Gem” came to be, a clone of an equine and a mule. Other cloned mules were born and were used in horse-racing competitions.

Mouse
It was in the year 2000 when a mouse named “Cumulina” was genetically cloned and born in Hawaii. She lived for more than two years.

Water Buffalo
There have been reports that a water buffalo was cloned in 2005 either in China or in India. However, the first successful cloning of a water buffalo calf was in 2009, which was named “Samrupa” but unfortunately succumbed to lung infection.

While scientists are continuously working on finding ways to perfect this discovery, there are people opposed to this practice. And amidst the popularity of animal cloning, there are advantages and disadvantages raised by opposing groups.

List of Advantages of Cloning Animals

1. A way to address the problem of endangered animal extinction through reproductive cloning.
In New Jersey alone, there are about 84 wildlife species are feared to be endangered while around 40% of the world’s species are at risk to be extinct. Advocates of animal cloning say that this scientific process offers a solution to conserve and preserve the species. Aside from preservation, this application can also used to revive even extinct species, just like what the movie “Jurassic Park” was about.

Through reproductive cloning, the nucleus that contains DNA is removed from a female egg of the species being cloned. Meanwhile, a mature cell with the DNA of a specific animal being cloned is injected into an empty egg cell. When an embryo results, it will be carried by a surrogate mother which will then give birth to a new animal which is genetically the same with its cell donor.

First, a female egg cell from the species being cloned has its DNA-containing nucleus removed. Then, a mature cell containing the DNA of the specific animal being cloned is transferred into the empty egg cell. That cell then begins to divide and forms an embryo, which is placed inside a surrogate mother. That embryo develops just as a sexually created one would, and eventually the surrogate mother will give birth to an animal that is genetically identical to the donor of the mature cells. In the case of extinct species, on the other hand, an attempt to resurrect the extinct wild mountain goat “bucardo” almost succeeded in 2009. However, the animal died soon after its birth.

2. The benefit it offers to clinical trials and medical research.
Scientists have been animal models in clinical trials and research. Mice are genetically altered to make them carriers of disease and are then used for research. The process however can take time and several steps to accomplish. With the application of cloning, scientists can now create transgenic animals and increase genetically identical animal models in a relatively short period of time than the normal process.

3. Cloning animals can help in the production of drugs and protein needed in the field of medicine.
Agricultural animals such as goats, cows and sheep are sources of protein. The sheep, for example are great sources of protein needed in the science of medicine, particularly in human blood clothing. By applying the science of animal cloning, shortage of protein sources and vaccines derived from animals can be resolved. Medical researchers and scientists can also have enough animal models for drug testing and study. In a nutshell, cloning can help facilitate the production of more farm animals which are genetically engineered for pharmaceutical and medical purposes such as xenotransplant organ procedures.

4. It can be used to increase the supply of meat and milk in the market for consumption.
Animals are great sources of meat and milk people use on a daily basis. With animal cloning, the agricultural industry can be one of the beneficiaries of this scientific advancement. By selecting an animal with superior genes and cloning it, farmers can now have a livestock full of milk and meat producing breed with superior quality. This can also be a way to create animals that produce milk twice as much compared to animals born from traditional breeding methods.

5. Animal cloning can be used to help stem cell research.
Stem cells are used cure many diseases and build and repair body tissues. With the time and money spent on stem cell research, animal cloning might be able to be used to aid in the process. If done successfully on animals, scientists and mankind might be looking at a future where stem cells in humans can be cloned to produce identical stem cells for specific people for future use.

6. Pet lovers will be spared from missing their deceased animals by cloning.
Another application of animal cloning the can be an advantage is focused on pet lovers. People who have the money and the desire to bring back to life their beloved pets can now do so with this scientific breakthrough. Although this is now possible, there is no assurance that the new animal will look identical with the previous one, as in the case of CC and Rainbow, two cloned cats which did not look the same.

List of Disadvantages of Cloning Animals

1. The process is tedious and can be costly.
With all the time, equipment, tests and procedure needed to clone an animal, cloning can be very expensive. Scientists have to spend hours and money to come up with a successful attempt. Moreover, even before success is achieved, there will be several failures to be encountered and these need substantial amount of money.

2. By cloning, men oppose the normal course of nature and take the role of God.
There are ethical and moral issues that surround man’s attempt to alter the process of procreation. This has been raised by opposing groups who see this as a threat to biodiversity. Human and animal rights activists say that this is clearly trying to alter evolution and can eventually have an effect to the ecosystem and the population. On moral issues, on the other hand, those who are against cloning consider this as an act against God, being the creator of all the inhabitants of the earth, animals included.

3. Health of people might be compromised by consuming meat from cloned animals.
Several animal clones have been reported as well as contentions about the safety in eating meat and drinking milk from cloned animals. Since the Food and Drug Administration has concluded in 2008 that meat and dairy products from cloned animas are safe, grocery owners have added these in the products they sell. However, a large percent of Americans are not buying the idea of having to serve cloned meat on the dinner table, let alone, eat them. Despite the approval of the FDA, there are still quite a number of consumers are skeptical about this. And although reported as safe, the FDA also issued a statement about the adverse effects of cloning to surrogate animals as well as to the clones themselves.

4. The process causes animals to suffer.
There have been reports that animal surrogates manifest adverse outcomes as opposed to animals which bear offspring the conventional way. The clones produced are also reported to have diseases and have high mortality rate. One health issue is the large offspring syndrome (LOS) where the clone is large at birth since it came from a mature cell. Other medical implications are insufficient renal development and hernia, among others. Since there are more failed cloning attempts than successful ones, the animals born with defects are the ones who suffer and animal right advocates are disagreeing with this.

Conclusion

The comparison above clearly states the upside and downside of this practice. Recent advancements and successes are manifestations that in the future, animal cloning might just be ordinary. However, despite the success in most animal cloning attempts and its potential benefits socially and economically, it still has yet to prove that its advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Case in point, the success of cloning “Dolly” is the only one positive result out of the hundreds of cloning attempts done. Also, the evident signs of health problems suffered by cloned animals during their gestation and right after birth should lead scientists to further study this technological advancement in science. Is the world really ready for animal cloning? Perhaps, it is. However, there are potential risks involved along with the benefits it offers. If it will be an effective boost to science and to eventually preserving and maintaining life on earth, further studies should be done to make the method flawless.