Lesson 4. The global debate

Communicative area: debates

Active vocabulary: gene, genetic, cell, identical, clone, cloning

1. Look at the pictures below. What do these animals have in common?

2. 9 a) Listen to the song by Weird Al Yankovic. What happened to the singer?

9 b) Listen again and read the lyrics. According to the song, how are clones created?

Isn't it strange

Feels like I'm lookin' in the mirror What would people say If only they knew that I was Part of some geneticist's plan Born to be a carbon copy man There in a petri dish late one night They took a donor's body cell and fertilised a human egg and so I say I think I'm a clone now

There's always two of me just a-hangin' around I think I'm a clone now

'Cause every chromosome is a hand-me-down I think I'm a clone now

c) Match the definitions below with the words from the song.

1. A flat dish made of plastic or glass with a cover that is primarily used to grow bacteria.

2. A segment of DNA, occupying a specific place on a chromosome, that is the basic unit of heredity.

3. A scientist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms.

4. The functional basic unit of life.

5. The female reproductive cell or gamete of ani- A mals; egg. ^

6. A copy made with carbon paper; informal: a per­son or thing that is identical or very similar to an­other

7. second-hand.

identical = the same, exactly equal and alike

3. a) Read the information about cloning and put the pictures in ex. 1 into the right order.

Most of us have heard about cloning and have some idea about what it might be.

Cloning is seen in movies, books, on the TV and in newspa­pers, but what is it really?

Cloning is basically making a genetic copy of something. This might be copying just one cell, or it could be a whole ani­mal. A guy called Herbert Webber, from the US Department of Agriculture, invented the word "clon" in the early 20^th century to describe plants that are genetically the same as their par­ents. Pretty soon "clon" became "clone", and slowly the word became part of the English language.

Scientists have been effectively cloning animals since the early 1960s. An Asian carp was cloned successfully in 1963; ten years later, a Chinese scientist Tong Dizhou also cloned a European crucian carp (3Qjiotoh Kapacb).

The biggest star in the cloning world is a sheep named Dol­ly. In 1996, Scottish scientists cloned Dolly from an adult sheep. This was the first time this had been done for a mammal. When Dolly was born the scientists made a fuller check of Dolly and found that she was genetically the same as the Finn Dorset which 'donated' the DNA. Dolly was therefore a clone.

In February 2003, Dolly, the world's first animal cloned from an adult cell, died.

Dolly had lived for six years and had given birth normally to four lambs, however scientists become worried about her health in January 2002 when she was diagnosed with a form of lung disease. Later, several hundred other Dollies were cloned.

The cows were cloned in 1998 and duplicated several thou­sand times. Made in Japan, the cows pave the way for other clones engineered to produce better meat and milk.

Labs have been experimenting on modifying pigs so that they can grow cells and organs that humans can use. Millie and her sisters (if you can call them that) were cloned in 2000 by a US-based company.

In December 2001, scientists in Texas cloned a domestic cat, known as Cc (for Carbon copy) and it is the first time anyone has cloned a pet. The research was launched by Genetic Saving & Clone, a California company that hoped to make^- money by cloning people's favourite dead or sick pets.

Cc was the only surviving animal of 87 kitten embryos cre­ated by cloning and 'appears healthy and energetic' say re­searchers at Texas Agricultural & Manufacturing University.

DNA tests have proved that Cc is a perfect genetic copy of her mother Rainbow. However this has not meant that Cc is ac­tually anything like her mother. As it turns out they do not act or even look alike. Rainbow is white with splotches of brown, tan and gold, while Cc has a striped grey coat over white, Rain­bow is shy whereas Cc is curious and playful.

So cloning won't bring back your precious pet - however there are other reasons for cloning cats. Mark Westhusin, a member of the cloning team, said there were serious scientific reasons for cloning a cat: 'Cats have an animal AIDS that is a good model for studying human AIDS.'

Now that cloning has been shown to be possible with mam­mals, people are getting really interested in cloning a special mammal - humans.

Some people might be surprised to learn that human clones already exist. These clones aren't created in a lab, they occur naturally every day all over the world. In case you haven't guessed, twins are the naturally occurring human clones. They're genetically different from their parents, but they are genetically identical to each other.

Not everyone thinks cloning humans is a good idea. A se­nior staff member at the Roslin Institute, who were responsible for creating Dolly, has said that human cloning projects are criminally irresponsible. Part of the reason for this is the low success rate in cloning. With Dolly there were 276 other at­tempts at creating a clone before they were successful.

Several governments around the world have banned public money being spent on human cloning research. In the US and Australia there is a ban on federal funding for human cloning research, with discussion on a full ban on human cloning in the US being undertaken.

b) Read the article again and answer the questions about cloning.

1. What is cloning? 2. How do the scientists check that the animal is a clone? 3. What worried scientists about the sheep Dolly? 4. What advantages can we get from cloning pigs, cats and cows? 5. Why was the clone kitten named Cc? 6. How did company Genetic Saving & Clone hope to raise money? 7. How many animals have been cloned? 8. Is human cloning possible?

4. Discuss the questions below in pairs.

1. Can you give example of books or films about cloning? 2. Would you like to be cloned? 3. Why do you think cloning was banned in some countries? 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of cloning in your opinion?

5. You are going to have the debate about cloning. Work in two groups.

Group A: a) Make a list of reasons for cloning, b) Choose the arguments for cloning from the list the teacher gives to you. Add them to your list.

Group B: a) Make a list of reasons against cloning, b) Choose the arguments for cloning from the list the teacher gives to you. Add them to your list.

6. Have the class debate. Use the words and phrases below and your own ideas.

I see your point, but I think...

Yes, I understand, but my opinion is that...

That's all very interesting, but the problem is that...

I'm afraid I can't quite agree with your point...

I'm sorry, but I don't think that's quite correct...

Sorry, I just have to disagree with your point...

Well, I think that...

Here's the main point I want to raise...

Just to be clear, here is what I mean...

So finally, we...

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