1885
Walter Sutton proves chromosomes hold genetic information.

1902
Hans Spemann divides a salamander embryo in two and shows early embryo cells retain all the genetic information necessary to create a new organism.

1952
A tadpole makes history as the first cloned animal.

1953
The structure of DNA is discovered.

1963
The term “clone” is formed.

1966
Establishment of the complete genetic code.

Baby Louise becomes the first child conceived through in-vitro (test-tube) fertilization.

1978
David Rorvik publishes his controversial novel “In His Image: The Cloning of a Man.” The fictional novel sparked debate on ethical issues regarding genetic manipulation and the development of biotechnology.

1980
U.S. Supreme Court rules live, human-made organisms are patentable material.

1987
The first mammals, sheep and cows, are cloned from embryonic cells. Animals cloned from embryonic cells contain genetic information from both parents because they are sexually fertilized.

1990
Human Genome Project begins.

1996
Dolly the Sheep, the first animal cloned from adult cells, is born.

1997
President Bill Clinton proposes a five-year moratorium on cloning.

Richard Seed announces his plans to clone a human.

1998
University of Hawaii scientists clone more than 50 mice from an adult cell.

Japanese researchers clone eight genetically identical calves from the biopsied cells of an adult cow. This experiment had a success rate of 80 percent, becoming the most effective clone to date.

2000
Tetra, a cloned monkey, is revealed by Oregon researchers.

A litter of five cloned piglets is produced by the same company that helped create Dolly the Sheep. The company says herds of cloned pigs could one day provide a genetically engineered source of organ transplants for humans.

Scientific Progress

By Melissa Christensen
Skiff Staff

Every morning, Doug Clarke pricks his finger and draws out a drop of blood to test his blood sugar level. Every evening, he repeats the process.

Twice during the day, he injects insulin into his body.

Each week, he receives a shot to help his body build red blood cells.

“Diabetes is something that is always on your mind,” said Clarke, a journalism instructor and Fort Worth Star-Telegram employee.

Clarke said complications from diabetes have led to nine laser surgeries on his eyes and a 70-percent decrease in kidney function. He said diabetes has also caused heart problems and tingling in his extremities.

For now, the injections and a controlled diet are all Clarke is able to do to control his diabetes.

“There is nothing long range,” he said.

A Jan. 10 announcement from China, however, could change Clarke’s outlook. According to People’s Daily newspaper in Britain, Chinese scientist Pei Xuetao and his research team have successfully cloned human tissues and will proceed to clone human organs.

“If they could clone my pancreas, I would be tickled pink,” Clarke said. “If you could clone an entire being, I would think you could certainly clone a lousy pancreas.”

Julie Anderson, assistant professor of biology, said cloned organs would be more successful in a body than transplanted donor organs.

“The body sees things on the surface (of the transplanted organ) as foreign and begins to reject it,” she said. “In the future, we could basically generate an organ identical to one of their own.”

Anderson said that prospect, however, is on hold until scientists can figure out how to initiate the developmental process of cells in a tube or petri dish.

“One cell becomes trillions of cells to make a human,” she said. “We don’t yet understand how certain cells become liver or muscle or skin or heart cells.”

Scientists say a more likely prospect is the cloning of an entire human being. Entire organisms including sheep, mice and cattle have been cloned successfully.

“The technology to do that same thing on a human being isn’t any different,” Anderson said. “I think it is going to happen.”
The questions surrounding cloning, then, become based in morality rather than scientific possibilities.

“Cloning technology has progressed faster than our ability to deal with these things ethically and morally,” Anderson said.
Anderson said she thinks society would be willing to accept the cloning of individual organs more than the cloning of an entire human being.

Scientists have justified their cloning research in the last several years with the advances that can be made in medicine and agriculture.

Anderson said she thought the original goal of cloning Dolly the Sheep in 1996, the major breakthrough in cloning research, was to better understand the development and aging of DNA. She said the project proved that DNA in an adult is the same as in an organism’s original cell.

“Cloning research is not a bunch of mad scientists trying to make the perfect human being,” she said.

According to Time magazine, scientists have a general consensus that a human will be cloned within a few years, possibly in the next few months. Instead of an egg and a sperm cell uniting, a copy of already-formed DNA will lead to a new birth, which critics have said will complicate the idea of being human.

Anderson said the future of cloning depends on the answers to moral questions and the purpose of the research.
“Those are things society will have to deal with,” she said.

Melissa Christensen
m.s.christense@student.tcu.edu