Health Risks of Cloning

Cloning, as the breakthrough medical technology gained worldwide attention in the year 1996 when a team of Scottish scientists cloned the first mammal, a sheep named Dolly. While Dolly was the center of world attraction for years, she lived a life that was painful, diseased and eventually she was euthanized on 14 February, 2003. The short life span of Dolly has since then fueled the debate on ethics of cloning. Medically, it has raised some prominent questions regarding health risks of cloning. Till date, no human has been cloned and countless number of failed attempts have been recorded all across the world. More than a decade has passed after the demise of Dolly and cloning technologies have developed to phenomenal levels. Use of cloning in livestock operations has been made legal in the US since 2008. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2008 gave permission for sale of cloned meats.

Cloning and Health Risks

Even though the FDA approval brought high growth and sales of cloned meats, it has witnessed strong protests from environmentalists and animal lovers. Even if we regard the growth in modern science and technologies to have reached its peak, health risks of cloning can't be denied. Have a look as to why.

Incompatibility of Egg & Nucleus
The most commonly observed risk of cloning is that there is a very high failure rate in it. Several medical studies have confirmed that out of every 100 cloned animals only 3 are usually successful! This is quite an unusually high failure rate. Amongst several cloning ways, somatic cell nuclear transfer is very popular but it can be highly inefficient in results due to many reasons. Many a time, there is no guarantee if the enucleated egg and the transferred nucleus are compatible, or if the pregnancy will be successful. The egg and implanted nucleus may not divide properly even in the initial stages.

Birth Defects
Cloned animals are at a higher risk of suffering from birth defects like disproportionate body organs ("large offspring syndrome") at birth. Improper body parts hint some sort of complications in the body that aggravate as the cloned animal grows further. Problems related to breathing and circulatory system also increase due to enlarged organs.

Early Death
Due to weaker immune system and malfunctioning in several body parts, cloned animals are at a higher risk of early death, just like it happened to Dolly.

DNA Imprinting Errors
When cloning humans, the biggest issue that we face is that of improper DNA imprinting. DNA imprinting is a critical process when an embryo is formed by the unification of a sperm and an egg. Imprinting, as the process is known in medical community, is the process in which DNA is chemically marked with either the maternal or paternal genes. In case, there is a malfunctioning in imprinting, it leads to defective imprinting on the embryo causing organ abnormalities.

When it comes to health risks of human cloning, there have been huge debates and protests in the medical community. While the medical risks related to human clones can be more severe, it is a fact that not much is known regarding the emotional and behavioral aspects of cloned humans. When cloning a sheep or a mice, we don't care much about their behavior or how will they function in the society. But when it comes to humans, ignoring the 'human aspects' can be a big mistake. What if a cloned human behaves abnormally dangerous? The risk of human clones being used for nefarious pursuits can't be denied. So besides health risks that human cloning may lead, there are several psychological issues.

Health risks of cloning, be it for animals or for humans, are many and it will require many more years of research and understanding of cloning process to eliminate the potential risks. Even when medical science reduces potential risks of cloning to minimum, which is possible, given the billions of dollars put in cloning research, ethical issues regarding cloning will always haunt us. Moreover, cloning processes are so expensive that it is quite unimaginable to see them available in your locality hospital. But nothing can be said regarding the human penchant to win over nature. None of us can predict if 50 or 100 years down the line, cloning will be quite a common medical process! Keep your fingers crossed, as the debate on cloning goes on. Drop in your views, down in the comments column regarding human cloning. We will ensure that it reaches to millions of people across the globe.