Dolly – the world’s most famous sheep
In July 1996, the world’s most famous sheep was born. She died seven years later but by then had totally changed the way we look at the concept of cloning.
She was the first mammal that had been ‘cloned’ from an adult somatic cell and actually had three ‘mothers’ – one provided the egg, one provided the DNA and another carried the fertilised embryo to term. The cloning took place at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, and it opened up a whole new world of understanding about scientific ability to clone living creatures.
Of course, it also opened up a whole ‘can of worms’ about the ethicality of cloning and the possibility it could be used in humans, with the rich genetically engineering their offspring to have particular traits.
Interestingly, Sir Ian Wilmut, who ‘cloned’ Dolly spoke out in 1998 about the dangers of human cloning. “It’s possible that some scientist somewhere will have a go at human cloning,” he said. “But I cannot think of a single reason for doing it which would be ethically acceptable. Also, there are so many unanswered questions and things that could go wrong, it would be irresponsible.”
Irresponsible maybe but impossible? Not likely. While at the moment a future involving human cloning is still a fictional future, it is within ‘touching distance’ for science and, if the ethics and religious opposition to the concept can be overcome, it is something that I believe we will see in our lifetimes.
No matter what comes in the future, Dolly, the unassuming sheep, has certainly given an innovation-hungry world food for thought through her high-profile birth, life and untimely demise.
Cloneography 