Term Papers on Cloning

Term Paper Title	Cloning
# of Words	870
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.48

Cloning

     Cloning?  What is it and what is a clone? Simply stated, a clone is a duplicate--
much like a photocopy is a duplicate, or copy, of a document. A good example of such
"copies" that occur in nature are identical twins, which are duplicates of each other.
On a daily basis, molecular geneticists and other scientists use cloning techniques to
replicate various genetic materials such as gene segments and cells. In light of this
relatively new science, many questions come to mind. How will those applications affect
our daily lives? What are the social and ethical implications of using such techniques?
This paper will attempt to answer these questions which deal with eugenics.
          Eugenics can be defined as a "strategy of trying to orchestrate human
evolution through programs aimed at encouraging the transmission of 'desirable' traits
and discouraging the transmission of 'undesirable' ones." When these traits are believed
to be genetically determined, eugenicists advocate that controlled breeding and the use of
biotechnologies, including genetic engineering, can and should be used to improve the
human genome. The concept of eugenics is credited to Francis Galton, a mathematician
and cousin of Charles Darwin, who began developing and promoting eugenics in the
1860s. In the early 1900s a Eugenics movement lobbied for social policies that would
implement their ideas. For example, they believed that through selective breeding of
individuals thought to be of high intelligence and moral character, and by the sterilization
of those considered of low character or feeble-minded, genetic science could help
eliminate problems believed to be the result of low intelligence and low character, such
as crime, alcoholism and poverty. By the late 1920s, 29 US states had adopted forced
sterilization laws which affected over 10,000 people thought to be mentally retarded,
alcoholic, or possessing criminal tendencies.
     Eugenics is often associated with racist and discriminatory policies, such as the
genocidal Nazi programs to exterminate Jews who they believed to be genetically
inferior.
In the United States, we no longer condone sterilizing people to improve the human
genome. The government does not actively promote policies defined or labeled as
"eugenic".  However, it might be argued that eugenics is still practiced. For example, it
might be argued that since human mate selection is not random, but based to a large
degree upon characteristics that are genetically influenced (such as physical
characteristics) that this is a kind of eugenics- encouraging the transmission of desirable
traits through selective breeding.  Hasidic Jews discourage marriage between persons
who carry the Tay-Sachs gene.  Prenatal genetic screening might be perceived as a kind
of eugenics, since it is used to determine the presence or absence of undesirable genetic
characteristics so that the desired reproductive choices can be made. For example, there
are those who advocate that parents ab...

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