Cloning



10 October 2024

Cloning
Cloning is a technology in the field of genetic engineering that involves creating an exact copy of the same biological organism from a primary organism. Cloning involves extracting the genetic code from the donor organism's cells, e.g., from soft tissues, and then replicating the DNA strand using genetic engineering techniques by placing this code into a cell purified of its original genetic material. If everything goes according to plan, this cell develops into an organism genetically identical to the organism from which the code was taken. Cloning is successfully carried out in the case of livestock, where the genetic code contained in the egg cell of a given species of animals is modified to preserve important positive traits of the animal and pass them on to offspring. Animal cloning is already technologically mastered in terms of genetic engineering and biotechnology, but the long-term effects of cloning and the interaction of clones with the natural environment are still under study, and the cloning technology itself is perceived by many people as too intrusive into the harmony of nature and the original ecosystem, where the existing traits of animals and plants have evolved over millions of years. Like many other fields of technology that make up the current civilizational-scientific system, cloning technology, as well as other techniques of genetic code manipulation, are also prone to human error, which can lead to enormous ecological disasters on an unprecedented scale in human civilization. To prevent this, it is necessary to limit the interaction of organisms with modified codes with natural species, which is currently not properly enforced, and modified species can interact with GMO species in a practically uncontrolled manner, e.g., in agricultural crops on Earth. Insects feeding on green plants from GMO crops, as well as drinking their nectar and consuming their pollen, may undergo unknown mutational processes resulting from the different genome contained in these plants, which means a different composition of the products they generate.