CLONING OF LIVING BEINGS

Before you read

Discuss these questions with your partner.

-» Do you know anything about genetic engineering?

-» Do you buy genetically modified food?

-» Would you like to clone something or someone?

-» Have you read any books - scientific or fiction - about cloning?

-» Are there any films where the issue of human cloning comes up?

-» Is cloning a matter of technology, ethics or politics?

D Vocabulary

Match these words with their synonyms and antonyms.

1endanger 7 identical

2 extract 8 create

3 unique 9 latest

4 extinction 10 brilliant

5 replica 11 improve

6 particular 12 move ahead

Acopy G recent

В special H make better

С take out I progress

D threaten J same

E death К intelligent

F exclusive L make

Antonyms

asurvival g fall behind

b original h destroy

с protect i different

dinsert j stupid

e general к make worse

f common l old

Reading 2 Cloning

It used to be only in science fiction that the existence of a race of identical creatures could be imagined: a group of people with exactly the same hair colour, the same features and the same height. However, now this dream - or nightmare -could actually become reality. In theory, the process of creating replicas of any living being seems quite simple. First, a body cell, which contains the specific genes of a living organism, splits in two. The resulting new cells, each containing the same genes, then grow into two new, identical organisms. This process is known as cloning, and it can be applied to humans, animals, insects and plants.

Early experiments with cloning took place using the tadpoles of frogs. In 1968, Dr J.B. Gurdon of Oxford University, England, took an unfertilised frog's egg from a frog - let us call it frog number 1 - and destroyed its nucleus. This meant that he had removed all the genetic information which related to this frog. He then inserted a new nucleus extracted from a cell from another frog - frog number 2. The tadpole which developed from the egg produced by frog number 1 was identical to frog number 2, not to frog number 1! It was not until 1996, however, in Scotland, that a group of British researchers led by Ian Wilmut achieved the successful cloning of an adult animal. The result was Dolly, who has taken her place in the history books as the first lamb to be cloned from the DNA of an adult sheep.

Following the birth of Dolly, both scientists and ordinary people have begun to think about the possibilities of cloning. The latest technology now means that we can remove body cells from the best of our race, the brilliant scientist, the musical genius, the child prodigy, and ensure that the same genes are reproduced in as many babies as we wish. However, cloning does not mean copying. The process actually takes its name from the Greek word clon which means a twig. A twig has the same genetic information as the tree it comes from, but the two look very different. In the same way, a clone shares the same genes as its donor, but its behaviour and characteristics will be different: personality will always be unique.

Science has provided us with knowledge which seems to have unlimited possibilities. We can not only make designer human beings, but we can also use cloning to improve health. For example, scientists predict that in the future, pigs with organs that could be used in human transplants, could be cloned. Cloning could also enable us to learn more about the embryo and how organisms develop. Cloning could put an end to the risk of extinction of the endangered species on our planet; if animals can be cloned, they need never die out.

However, the process is very controversial. Some people have asked whether a cloned individual would really be a human; would it have a soul? Would there be relationships and responsibilities between donors and clones? What would be the position of the children of donors in relation to clones? These people are concerned that cloning, or genetic engineering, would interfere with the laws of religion or nature. Others are concerned that it might lead to attempts to alter the features of a particular race and result in a new kind of ethnic cleansing. The fact is that the new opportunities offered by science have always meant that we are faced with new ethical questions. These questions need to be discussed and evaluated before we move ahead.

Pronunciation guide

cloning['klqVnIN] embryo['embrIqV] replicas['replIkqz] unfertilised[An'fE:tqlaIzd]

E Comprehension

a. Read the text and choose the best title for each paragraph. There is one title, which you do not need to use.

CLONING OF LIVING BEINGS

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1112