Mighty Mouse: Prone to clone

(Photo by George Shuklin)

The story of cloning is turning into a saga "Of Mice and Men."  A major breakthrough recently occurred when Japanese researchers managed to "produce 581 mice from an original

donor mouse through 25 rounds of cloning…"

Head researcher Teruhiko Wakayama explains:   This technique could be very useful for the large-scale production of  superior-quality animals, for farming or conservation purposes.  Many previous attempts to reclone animals beyond three generations have failed, often because of genetic abnormalities that develop. LiveScience reports that Wakayama's recent success in cloning the mice 25 consecutive times (resulting in healthy and fertile mice that all lived normal life spans) could be due to his team's use of trichostatin ("a compound that interferes with enzymes that make changes to DNA").

This is by no means Wakayama's first major success.  In 2008 his team "created clones from the bodies of

mice that had been frozen for 16 years." Although this raises some intriguing Jurassic Park type possibilities, it also raises some disturbing Brave New World type concerns.  If mammals such as mice, cows, pigs and cats can be successfully cloned (and now sometimes recloned), then what does this mean for humans themselves?

Will the lure of immortality prompt humans to attempt "duplicating" themselves via cloning (as some seem to already attempt via less-than-sterling parenting styles)?  Human cloning raises many an ethical issue.  Actionbioscience.org's Glen Miller asks these important questions:  Who is socially responsible for cloned humans?  Do clones have rights and legal protection?  Will cloning lead to designer babies who are

denied an open future? 

He might as well have added:  Is this messing with God's plan?

   

Resources

http://www.livescience.com/27759-immortal-cloned-mice-created.html

http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/mcgee.html

Copyright April 9, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved