"To clone or not to clone?"

Theme : To clone or not to clone ?

What is cloning ?

Look at the cartoon in the textbook p.100 ex.66. What*s going on in the picture ? Why is it funny ?

Next task is :

do the quiz and find out whether you know much about cloning.

Is it true that :

• Cloning is a human invention

• Identical twins are actually clones
• clones have identical DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid
• the word « clone » comes from Latin
• « clone » in Latin means brother
• the embryos of mice were first cloned in Russia
• a sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell
• Dolly , the sheep , was first cloned in England
• cloned animals live longer than normal animals

Check your guesses.

Facts about cloning Cloning, in scientific terms, started off being a natural phenomenon: identical twins, triplets, quads etc. are in fact clones! This is because they have identical DNA

or deoxyribonucleic acid — they are simply copies of each other. The term « clone » is derived from the Greek word for twig — a very small thin branch from a tree or bush.

Mice formed from embryo cells were first cloned in Russia in 1986.

Dolly, a sheep, was the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell. She was cloned at the Roslin Institute in Scotland and lived there until her death at six years of age. Her birth had been announced on the 22 of February 1997.

Cloned animals age faster than normal animals .

Write down the new words :

Cloning - клонирование

deoxyribonucleic acid - дезоксирибонуклеиновая кислота(ДНК) embryos - зародыш(эмбрион)

adult cell – взрослая особь

Next task is :

say : Are you agree or disagree with statements ?

• It is not ethical to clone a human being.
• It is not ethical to clone any living creature , even an animal.
• In the next twenty years there will be human clones.
• Cloning is acceptable if it helps against terrible diseases like AIDS or cancer.
• Cloning is acceptable if it saves the life of a baby who is very sick or dying.

Discuss the following questions :

1 Do you think humans should be allowed to be cloned ?

2 What benefits do you think cloning can have ?

3 What negative aspects do you think cloning can have ?

4 Do you know what your country*s policy on cloning is ?

5 Would you like to clone yourself or anyone else ?

6 If you could clone someone famous , who would it be and why ?

Hometask :

Write an opinion essay « To clone or not to clone ?»

p.103 ex. 78