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Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

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With cytoplasmic transfer, the nuclear DNA is partially from<br />

Woman 1 and partially from the father, but the mitochondrial<br />

DNA is from Woman 2 (the mitochondrial mother). <strong>The</strong><br />

availability <strong>of</strong> this process introduces yet another potential<br />

“parent” into the development <strong>of</strong> a child.<br />

<br />

<strong>The</strong> most radical version <strong>of</strong> IVF, however, occurs when the genetic<br />

code is hollowed out <strong>of</strong> a donated egg and replaced with another<br />

genome; the zygote is then implanted to be brought to term. This<br />

procedure is cloning.<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

When an animal is cloned, the entire internal instruction manual<br />

from one being is implanted into the egg <strong>of</strong> another so that the<br />

<strong>of</strong>fspring will be genetically identical to the donor in terms <strong>of</strong><br />

nuclear DNA. Without a cytoplasmic transfer, the mitochondrial<br />

DNA will be that <strong>of</strong> the egg donor. In this way, the clone will be<br />

slightly different on a cellular level than the being that was cloned,<br />

but this is not a difference that will express itself in the observable<br />

properties <strong>of</strong> the clone.<br />

<br />

born in 1996, and many believed that the age <strong>of</strong> cloning had begun.<br />

<br />

originally thought. Only about 3% <strong>of</strong> cloning experiments succeed,<br />

and serious problems are observed in those that are successful.<br />

Obesity, enlarged organs, undeveloped lungs, developmental delays,<br />

kidney problems, joint and liver issues, and brain and immune<br />

<br />

rates in cloned animals.<br />

Ordinarily, an egg has months to assimilate its genetic code, but<br />

when cloning occurs, a rapid taking in <strong>of</strong> the DNA by the egg causes<br />

problems. <strong>The</strong> egg gets the new internal instruction manual, but in<br />

<br />

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