Although cloning may not seem to be a huge practice, it has been done several times in different breeds of animals. Everyone has heard of Dolly the sheep, right? She is the first, and most famous, clone in the world. Cloning is a complex process that lets one exactly copy the genetic, or inherited, traits of an animal (FDA, 2017). The cloning of livestock began in 1996, with Dolly, and has become more prevalent in the years since. There are many reasons a producer may want to clone their livestock, from meat consistency to reproductive efficiency. Some may say the practice of cloning could change the future of farming. Cloning, or biological copying, has been successfully done in cattle, swine, sheep, and goats; and that’s just livestock!
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According to the Compassion in World Farming Report, in 2010 there were an estimated six thousand livestock clones worldwide. Some parts of the world are already using cloning commercially to produce elite animals for breeding. However, as previously stated, there are some concerns towards the welfare of the clones and the animals used to create the clones. Many cloned embryos do not develop to term and many of the ones that do die during or soon after birth. This is more likely in some breeds than others, such as cattle, but it is still a concern with any cloned animal. Animals used as surrogate mothers are also affected due to the high rates of failure, birthing difficulties, and C-sections. Some cloned fetuses develop much larger than a traditionally bred fetus, which can cause difficulty when giving birth. Due to some of these risks, the cloning of farm animals was banned by the European Parliament in 2015. However, this ban does not include cloning for research purposes or attempting to clone endangered species. The possibility of cloning rare or endangered livestock breeds is one of the reasons people do support cloning. There are more positives to cloning besides just restoring rare breeds. For producers, cloning can introduce positive genetics into a herd in a very short …show more content…
She was born in 1996 in Scotland as part of some experiments at The Roslin Institute. Dolly was “made” from a cell that was taken from the udder of her biological mother, which was then inserted into a sheep ovum and manipulated to create an embryo (Jesper Lassen, 2006). After that, the embryo was placed into a foster mother who carried Dolly until birth. Dolly was international news, and everyone knew about her life and, eventually, her death. However, most people are not fascinated by her life, but they think of it with fear and anxiety. Her life did, and continues to, spark debates on the ethics of scientists cloning animals. As talked about before, many people don’t agree with cloning due to the ethics of it and the fact that some cloned animals suffer health issues and do not live full lives. Scientists used to mainly be worried about what it was possible for them to do, but with all the ethics arguments circulating now, the bigger question they must consider is what is acceptable for them to do. Cloning is not the only use of biotechnology in agriculture, but it seems to be the one most people are concerned with. In 1952 embryo cloning was used in frogs, and this led to more and more advancements until Dolly came along. Dolly made history; her life was something that opened doors for scientists and has led to so many breakthroughs. Scientists wouldn’t be where they are today if it wasn’t for what
According to the Compassion in World Farming Report, in 2010 there were an estimated six thousand livestock clones worldwide. Some parts of the world are already using cloning commercially to produce elite animals for breeding. However, as previously stated, there are some concerns towards the welfare of the clones and the animals used to create the clones. Many cloned embryos do not develop to term and many of the ones that do die during or soon after birth. This is more likely in some breeds than others, such as cattle, but it is still a concern with any cloned animal. Animals used as surrogate mothers are also affected due to the high rates of failure, birthing difficulties, and C-sections. Some cloned fetuses develop much larger than a traditionally bred fetus, which can cause difficulty when giving birth. Due to some of these risks, the cloning of farm animals was banned by the European Parliament in 2015. However, this ban does not include cloning for research purposes or attempting to clone endangered species. The possibility of cloning rare or endangered livestock breeds is one of the reasons people do support cloning. There are more positives to cloning besides just restoring rare breeds. For producers, cloning can introduce positive genetics into a herd in a very short …show more content…
She was born in 1996 in Scotland as part of some experiments at The Roslin Institute. Dolly was “made” from a cell that was taken from the udder of her biological mother, which was then inserted into a sheep ovum and manipulated to create an embryo (Jesper Lassen, 2006). After that, the embryo was placed into a foster mother who carried Dolly until birth. Dolly was international news, and everyone knew about her life and, eventually, her death. However, most people are not fascinated by her life, but they think of it with fear and anxiety. Her life did, and continues to, spark debates on the ethics of scientists cloning animals. As talked about before, many people don’t agree with cloning due to the ethics of it and the fact that some cloned animals suffer health issues and do not live full lives. Scientists used to mainly be worried about what it was possible for them to do, but with all the ethics arguments circulating now, the bigger question they must consider is what is acceptable for them to do. Cloning is not the only use of biotechnology in agriculture, but it seems to be the one most people are concerned with. In 1952 embryo cloning was used in frogs, and this led to more and more advancements until Dolly came along. Dolly made history; her life was something that opened doors for scientists and has led to so many breakthroughs. Scientists wouldn’t be where they are today if it wasn’t for what