Monkeys successfully cloned in China
Chinese Scientists have successfully cloned two healthy monkeys.
By Kelly Van ([email protected])
On Wednesday, January 09,2019, there was news that China successfully cloned two monkeys. This recent cloning has brought scientists closer to cloning humans. China started the cloning process back in 1996. The first mammal they ever successfully cloned was a sheep. Since then China has been trying to clone different mammals, such as, dogs, cats, sheep, and others. They have not successfully cloned any monkeys or apes up until now.
“The genes of cloned monkeys could be manipulated before the process begins, yielding animals that have edited genes in every cell of their bodies, the researchers suggested.” said editor of NYTimes. In addition, this process may even allow scientists to examine genes of different variations of mammals. According to CBSNEWS.com, scientists are a step closer to cloning Humans. |
Zhong Zhong, one of the monkeys recently cloned.
Dr. Meade, an Anatomy and Physiology teacher at PLHS, felt as if the science of it was important but the ethics of it was questionable. “The risks of the process is the reduction of the gene pool and the benefits is that it can increase the knowledge of development and genetics. There is not enough data to know if it is safe to start cloning humans.” said Dr.Meade.
In other words, Dr.Meade thinks there can be both benefits and risks to cloning humans. “Although there is not enough data to prove whether it is safe or not, it does not sound too bad of an idea, the concept of it seems pretty interesting, especially if they cloned me.” he joked. |