Genetic Engineering

            "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26) The issue of genetic engineering is one that is no longer a fantasy but a situation that is very much a reality. While plant biotechnology has been used for centuries to improve plants, only recently has it allowed for the transfer of genes from one organism to another. Genetic engineers have been basically removing a desirable gene section from one organism, and implanting it into another. Yet there is now widespread controversy over the harmful and beneficial effects of genetic engineering to which there still seems to be no concrete solution. Until recently, there were few ethical, social, or legal discussions about human cloning, since the scientific understanding was that such a procedure was not biologically possible. That situation has changed.
             In February 1997 a baby lamb was born at the Roslin Institute, just outside Edinburgh. But this was a very special lamb, in fact, one of a kind. Young Dolly managed to attract more press attention than any other sheep in history. Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult. Cultured cells taken from a 26-day-old foetus and from a mature ewe were used and these cells created Dolly. This young lamb drew attention to the hypothetical potential of cloning humans. The ability to make clones from cultured cells derived from easily obtained tissue raised many questions that were once thought impossible. Cloning is based on the process of nuclear transfer. Nuclear transfer involves the use of two cells. The receiving cell is normally an unfertilised egg taken from an animal soon after ovulation. The donor cell is the one to be copied. A scientist removes the chromosomes, a chain-like substance that incorporates the cell's DNA, from the recipient egg cell.