On December 22nd, 2001, “cc:” was born into this world. She is a clone. Cells from the ovaries taken from female cats that were spayed in various clinics were used for the procedure. The nucleus of these cells was removed, and replaced with the nucleus of a cell from the animal to be cloned. That cell was then placed in the womb of an unrelated female cat. 188 of these cells were placed in female cats, and of those, only 87 formed embryos. Of those 87 embryos, only 2 cats got pregnant. And of those 2 cats, one miscarried, and the other resulted in “cc:”.
While “cc:” is indeed a clone, she is not an exact duplicate of the original animal. Her markings are similar, but still obviously different. This is due to conditions within the womb that effect the growth patterns and genetic structuring of an animal. The two cats are indeed genetically identical, but that does not make them duplicates.
This research has been funded by John Sperling, an Arizona millionaire, who has contributed $3.7 million to Texas A&M in hopes that some day they will be able to clone his dog, Missy. To take advantage of the obvious commercial implications such endeavors could have, Mr Sperling has created a commercial entity known as “Genetic Savings and Clone” which holds licensing rights to the techniques developed by Texas A&M.
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I find it interesting to note a few things. Many people get all uptight when they hear talk about cloning. “What if they clone a human?”, they ask. “I don’t think that cloned creatures are real. They can’t possibily have a soul”, they say.
The truth of the matter is, cloning anything does not produce an exact copy of that thing. The egg goes though a normal development process before possibly maturing into a living creature. It is born of a mother, and delivered into this world just like other creatures of its species are.
The main difference in the process from a normal reproduction occurs during conception. The “mother” is impregnated using, essentially, arificial insemination, which is done today all over the world and most people don’t object to it. The cell, before it is placed in the womb of the “mother”, has been altered. The nucleus of the cell has been replaced with the nucleus of a cell from the creature being cloned. Even today, cells used for human artificial insemination are “doctored” a bit before hand to help ensure impregnation.
If a new creature is born, which, in cloning is rare, it is as though a twin of the creature being cloned was born with it. It is a new animal, independent and capable of having its own thoughts and maturing in its own way. The chance of the two creatures being identical to one another at the same age is as the same as twin human babies growing up to be identical beings. It is so improbable, it is safe to consider it impossible.
