New cloning techniques have made what was once believed impossible
now possible. These new technologies allow for the extraction and purification
of minute amounts of fossilized DNA, which is then activated, amplified,
and replicated before being used for in vitro fertilization. Just
last year a Japanese scientist cloned the first living mammoth by extracting
the nucleus from the cell of a frozen (Pleistocene) mammoth, injecting
it into an elephant's enucleated cell, and then implanting the viable
embryo into an Asian elephant. Even though the baby mammoth only lived
for a few days and was the clone of an animal that died out only a few
thousand years ago, this represents a real step forward in cloning dinosaurs.
What a fantastic opportunity--to be in on the ground level of a major
scientific discovery that builds on the technologies already benefitting
many humans worldwide, especially infertile couples who want to have children.
There would be little to fear in bringing dinosaurs back from extinction--no
"monsters" would evolve because genetic manipulations would carefully
limit evolution. Also in your testimony next week it will be important
to point out that cloning dinosaurs could help to develop new drugs to
fight human diseases. The technological advances stemming from research
on cloned dinosaurs could also potentially improve food production around
the world with genetically engineered plants that could save the thousands
of people who die each year from starvation. One of your colleagues has
also proposed producing genetically engineered plants as benign alternatives
to our dwindling fossil fuel resources. You plan to urge the judges to
approve the cloning of dinosaurs because of the many potential benefits
to society.
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