The Story of Dolly the Cloned Sheep | Retro Report | The New York Times
Summary
TLDRThe script narrates the groundbreaking story of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, born in 1996. It explores the scientific revolution and ethical debates that followed, including the potential for cloning to cure diseases or create 'designer' humans. The narrative also touches on the impact of Dolly on stem cell research and the eventual shift towards more efficient methods, like those pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka, which bypass the need for cloning and its ethical dilemmas.
Takeaways
- 🐑 Dolly the sheep, born in 1996, was the first successfully cloned adult mammal, causing global astonishment and raising ethical questions about cloning.
- 🔬 The cloning process was complex and required multiple attempts, with only one successful embryo from over 400 trials, highlighting the technical challenges involved.
- 🌐 The news of Dolly's birth was initially kept secret to avoid media scrutiny and premature publication, but it was leaked just before the official announcement.
- 🌟 The successful cloning of Dolly was seen as a groundbreaking scientific achievement, comparable to the discovery of the atom bomb, moon landing, or DNA.
- 🚫 The ethical implications of cloning led to immediate political reactions, with President Clinton issuing a directive banning the use of federal funds for human cloning.
- 🧬 Cloning and stem cell research became intertwined issues, with both facing controversy and restrictions that affected scientific progress in the United States.
- 🌱 The potential of cloning for agriculture, such as creating superior livestock, was overshadowed by sensationalized fears of human cloning and its misuse.
- 🤔 The debate over cloning raised fundamental questions about the role of science and humanity's place in the natural world, with some viewing it as 'playing God'.
- 🔄 The inefficiency and ethical concerns surrounding cloning led to the exploration of alternative methods, such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which bypass the need for human embryos.
- 🏆 The discovery of iPSCs by Shinya Yamanaka revolutionized stem cell research and earned him the Nobel Prize, offering a promising path forward for medical therapies without the ethical dilemmas of cloning.
- 🔮 The legacy of Dolly includes both the scientific advancements in cloning and stem cell research, as well as the ongoing ethical and political debates surrounding these technologies.
Q & A
Who was Dolly the sheep and why was she significant?
-Dolly the sheep was the first living, breathing clone of an adult mammal, created by Scottish scientist Ian Wilmet and his team at the Roslin Institute in 1996. Her birth demonstrated the possibility of cloning adult mammals, sparking widespread scientific and ethical debates.
What was the method used to clone Dolly?
-The method involved taking a single mammary cell from a six-year-old ewe, fusing it with an unfertilized egg from another sheep that had its DNA removed, and implanting the resulting embryo into a surrogate mother.
What were some potential benefits of cloning animals mentioned in the script?
-Potential benefits included cloning animals with human diseases for testing new therapies, cloning endangered species, and improving agricultural practices by producing high-quality livestock in large numbers.
What concerns were raised about cloning following Dolly's birth?
-Concerns included ethical questions about 'playing God,' the potential for cloning humans, and fears of creating genetically identical individuals, which raised worries about possible misuse, such as creating armies or cloning leaders like Hitler.
How did Dolly get her name?
-Dolly was named after the singer Dolly Parton. The name was suggested by John Bracken, a member of the Roslin team, as a reference to the source of the cloned cell, which was a mammary gland cell.
What were some of the immediate reactions and consequences of Dolly's cloning in the scientific community and beyond?
-The cloning of Dolly led to intense media scrutiny, public debates, and political actions, including President Clinton issuing a directive banning the use of federal funds for cloning human beings. It also influenced discussions on embryonic stem cell research.
What eventually happened to Dolly the sheep?
-Dolly lived until 2003, when she died of progressive lung disease. While there were concerns that her early death was due to cloning, it was concluded that her disease was likely caused by environmental factors common in sheep, not cloning.
What has been the long-term impact of Dolly's cloning on scientific research?
-Dolly's cloning paved the way for advancements in stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. It also influenced the development of techniques to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) without using embryos, which addressed many ethical concerns.
How did the public and media react to the news of Dolly's cloning?
-The news of Dolly's cloning caused a major public stir, with widespread media coverage and debates about the ethical and scientific implications. It was seen as a groundbreaking achievement and a potential harbinger of a 'Brave New World' of cloning.
What advancements in stem cell research were influenced by Dolly's cloning?
-Dolly's cloning influenced the development of techniques for creating embryonic stem cells and the breakthrough by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who developed a method to turn ordinary adult cells into stem cells, earning him the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2012.
Outlines
🐑 The Birth of Dolly: A Scientific Milestone
The first paragraph introduces the groundbreaking event of Dolly the sheep's birth in 1997, the first cloned adult mammal, which sparked global debate about the ethics and implications of cloning. It discusses the potential benefits, such as cloning for medical research and endangered species preservation, as well as the ethical concerns raised by the public and scientists alike. The paragraph also details the scientific process behind Dolly's creation by Dr. Ian Wilmut and his team at the Roslin Institute, emphasizing the challenges and the one successful outcome from over 400 attempts. The secrecy around Dolly's birth and the subsequent media frenzy are also highlighted, setting the stage for the ensuing discussions on cloning's future.
🧬 Cloning Controversy and Its Impact on Science
This paragraph delves into the public and political reactions to Dolly's cloning, which stirred fears about the potential for human cloning and led to immediate calls for ethical boundaries and regulations. It outlines the politicization of cloning and its intersection with embryonic stem cell research, which faced similar ethical debates and restrictions under President Clinton and later President George W. Bush. The paragraph also touches on the broader implications for medical research, the potential for cloning to advance treatments for human diseases, and the chilling effect these controversies had on scientific progress in the United States, as opposed to other countries where stem cell research continued to thrive.
🌱 The Legacy of Dolly and the Future of Cloning
The final paragraph reflects on Dolly's legacy and the evolution of cloning technology since her birth. It discusses the commercial use of cloning in preserving elite animal traits and the inefficiency and high costs associated with the process. The paragraph also highlights the shift in scientific focus from cloning to the development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by Shinya Yamanaka, which bypasses the ethical issues of using human embryos and has the potential to revolutionize regenerative medicine. The narrative concludes with the current state of stem cell research and the optimism for treating degenerative diseases, as well as the lasting impact of Dolly's story on public perception and scientific discourse.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Dolly the sheep
💡Cloning
💡Scientific breakthrough
💡Ethical debate
💡Embryonic stem cells
💡Ian Wilmut
💡Stem cell therapy
💡Yamanaka factors
💡Lou Gehrig's disease
💡Presidential directive
💡National Museum of Scotland
Highlights
The birth of Dolly the sheep in 1997 marked the first successful cloning of an adult mammal, causing global astonishment and ethical debates.
The cloning technique was seen as a scientific revolution comparable to the discovery of the atom bomb, moon rocket, or DNA.
Ethical concerns arose, questioning if humanity was overstepping its bounds by attempting to 'play God' through cloning.
The potential for cloning to create thousands of genetically identical animals opened up new possibilities for medical research and endangered species preservation.
The cloning process was not overly sophisticated, indicating that it could be replicated by college or graduate students, raising further ethical concerns.
The successful cloning of Dolly was achieved by Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut and his team at the Roslin Institute, using a complex method of cell fusion.
Embryologist Bill Richie's method involved fusing a mammary cell from a 6-year-old sheep with an unfertilized egg from which the DNA was removed.
The naming of Dolly was inspired by Dolly Parton, highlighting the humanizing aspect of the cloned lamb.
The secrecy surrounding Dolly's creation was broken just days before the official announcement, causing a media frenzy.
The successful cloning of Dolly was seen as a watershed event in science, with many doubting its feasibility due to the complexity of mammals.
The prospect of human cloning overshadowed the scientific promise of cloning for medical therapies and drug development.
President Clinton's directive banning federal funding for human cloning politicized the issue and influenced the debate on embryonic stem cell research.
The inefficiency and high costs of cloning animals limited its widespread application, despite the potential for medical research.
The early death of Dolly at 6 years due to lung disease raised concerns about the health implications of cloning.
The legacy of Dolly's cloning has been the inspiration for further scientific exploration into stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka's discovery of reprogramming adult cells into stem cells offered an ethical alternative to cloning.
President Obama's lifting of the stem cell funding ban in 2009 marked a significant policy shift in scientific research.
Dolly's impact on science and society continues to be felt, as seen in her display at the National Museum of Scotland.
Transcripts
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the headline on the other major news
story today to which we intended to vote
some time is very simple Hello
Dolly in February of 1997 a fin Dorset
sheep named Dolly sent waves of Future
Shock around the world the first living
breathing clone of an adult mammal it's
possible we're seeing a scientific
explosion comparable to the atom bomb or
the moon rocket or DNA itself
for many it was a case of science gone
too far are we acting more like the
Creator than creatures are we trying to
play the role of God all this
predictions multiplied about just what
this breakthrough would bring soon it
will be possible to give her thousands
of absolutely identical sisters animals
could be cloned with human diseases and
new therapies tested on them endangered
species can take heart this is not an
elaborate sophisticated technique it
means that any decent college or
graduate school student could
potentially clone a human being whatever
became of Dolly and all that speculation
about the Brave New World she ushered
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in on July 5th
1996 Scottish scientist Ian wilmet
received the news he had been waiting
for
lamb number 6 ll3 had been
born first of all I was immensely
relieved that she was alive and
apparently normal there was a slight
feeling of sort
of or if you like at the potential
impact wilmet and his team at the rosin
Institute outside of Edinburgh had spent
several years trying to do what no one
had before to successfully make a clone
of an adult
mammal embryologist bill Richie had
lifted a single mamory cell from a
6-year-old U and fused it to a second
sheep's unfertilized egg which had been
stripped of its
DNA that's the method the actual nuts
and bolts of doing it is is a little bit
more complicated than that in fact
Richie had repeated the same delicate
procedure over 400 times and only one
surviving embryo number 6 ll3 was
carried to turn by a surrogate mother
a lot of the cloned animals previously
had died born and then
died but this particular lamb got onto
its feet very quickly and started
bleeding and looking to um get its first
feed of milk from its mother after the
delivery it was John bracken's wise
crack that christened little 6 ll3 with
the name forever etched in the annals of
scientific
achievement I turned to my colleague and
said the lamb has been created from from
mam cells and basically um I thought it
would be a good idea to call a dolly
after Dolly Parton I don't think I need
to explain any more than
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that the few at Roslin who knew what
made Dolly so special were sworn to
secrecy we knew it was going to be a big
story we were going to get a lot of
media scrutiny and the top journals will
not publish papers about things which
have already been publicized
they managed to keep Dolly under wraps
from July until February then just days
before the news was set to be released
somewhere or other there was a leak and
because it was published in a Sunday
paper you know the thing blew it's a
very long time since a science story on
Sunday made such waves on Monday the
news was that scientists in Scotland had
successfully cloned a sheep in a
laboratory an exact copy made by a
combination of genetics biology and
Technology I think you would say all
hell had broken loose it was just
B A Brave New World has arrived with the
debut of Dolly a seven-month-old lamb
what has caused such a shudder in the
worldwide scientific Community is that
so many scientists doubted it could ever
be done a frog had been cloned in the
1960s but mammals were seen as too
complex it was a seminal Watershed event
and no one saw
coming and people said this is a Rubicon
that we've crossed do we really know
where we are which brings us to the
fundamental question should we be
applauding a mindboggling scientific
breakthrough or be nervous about where
it might lead us picture a world where
hunger has been wiped out by our ability
to clone the best cattle in great number
but where War threatens because some
future Hitler decided to make multiple
copies of
himself what sensationalized it was that
people began to say say well could we do
this with humans and people tended to
assume that this would happen cloning a
human being is closer than almost anyone
had even imagined now it seems that one
day scientists could take a single cell
from a more sophisticated creature say
like me pull out my DNA stick it in a
new cell plant the cell in a womb and 9
months later out would come a genetic
copy of me a
clone the tantalizing Prospect of
cloning human beings soon overshadowed
the true scientific promise of Dolly the
prospect that scientists could one day
use clone cells to develop drugs and
other therapies in the hopes of curing
deadly human
diseases in the scientific world it was
actually more of a nextstep
accomplishment in some ways but in the
popular press this meant that if dolly
was possible maybe you could make an
army of whoever your worst enemy is
recent bestseller The Day After Tomorrow
imagined Hitler recreated from his
Frozen
head and it really extended to a
ghoulish icky misuse of science domain
that people suddenly started thinking in
almost sci-fi terms about what was now
possible begun the Clone War
has and that led to people thinking that
we really need boundaries cuz scientists
look what they can do it's going to take
a shape that's abhorent to us if we
don't get ready for it if we can't ban
the production of people just to serve
as spare ports for the rest of us we
don't have much hope of doing anything
in the world of ethics and law President
Clinton wasted little time coming out as
tough on cloning today I am issuing a
directive that bans the use of any
federal funds for any cloning of human
beings it started to become politicized
from the very beginning you have
presidential commissions senators and
congressmen holding forth on science
what should be funded and what should be
forbid didn't this affected not only
cloning but another recently developed
and promising form of medical research
using embryonic stem cells the building
blocks of the human body these cells
were generally taken from discarded
embryos at fertility clinics which
created an immediate
controversy dolly was very much caught
up in the whole debate about embryonic
stem cells and so there was a lot of
concern about that was really messing
around with something really fundamental
to life scientists have already cloned a
sheep researchers are telling us the
next step could be to clone human beings
to create individual designer stem cells
essentially to grow another you in
August of 2001 President George W bush
restricted federally funded medical
research to a limited number of stem
cell lines many of which turned out to
be useless to American scientists who
had been among the first to isolate
human stem cells the scientific
Community felt like this was really the
very base of a tremendous revolution in
our understanding and treatment of human
disease but we were being constrained
and that really had a very chilling
effect on Research in the US it's kind
of like we invented the first printing
press and then we decided he we're not
going to use it it's too scary and the
Koreans and Indonesians are saying Hey
give it to us we got some books we want
to print while The Cutting Edge of stem
cell research took hold overseas the
latest Feats of cloning continued to
capture the Public's imagination bring
in the Clones numerous cloned animals
made the news as did claims of a human
clone by the rather unscientifically
trained raans and inside your finger you
have small planets then in February of
2003 Dolly the sheep has died a
scientist at The Institute in Scotland
where she was born said she was
diagnosed with Progressive lung disease
she was only 6 years old so here is yet
another warning about cloning critics
long argued Dolly would suffer from
premature AG aging because she was made
from the genetic material of a
6-year-old you and saw her early death
as confirmation of their concerns Dolly
died because of the long disease that
she had a disease commonly passed
between animals in close contact it
wasn't anything to do with her age
although Dolly had developed early
arthritis a postmortem at Roslin
concluded her cloning was not the cause
of her death but what happened to doll's
Legacy and all that specul about a
future full of
clones Dollywood this live animal that
we could look at and touch and feel that
caused us to imagine that there will be
people cloning in their sink in their
backyard and there just wasn't an
understanding of the level of
sophistication and complexity around
this technology few know those
complexities better than Blake Russell
who oversees the viagen company's
cloning operation on this 300 Acre Farm
in Northern Iowa costing upwards of
$20,000 their services are used mainly
by high-end breeders to preserve the
best traits of elite animals the number
of cloned animals around North America
for example would only number today in
the small thousands but yet there would
be literally millions of descendants of
those animals and those offspring are
the ones that are ultimately designed
for the production of meat and milk that
we see on our table it took the creation
of nearly 300 living embryos to make
Dolly and 17 years later the process is
only slightly more efficient the long
odds of success have also tempered much
of the Hope cloning held for medical
research that scientists could create
embryonic stem cells to treat
diseases it wasn't until May 2013 that
scientists in Oregon finally managed to
use the dolly method to produce stem
cells from a Clon human
embryo the the whole technique still has
this inbuilt inefficiency and we don't
know why we needed some alternative to
the dolly approach to creating these
cell types and that's what led to what
really is a revolution in science
Japanese scientist shinya yamanaka
rocked the scientific community in 2006
when he turned ordinary adult cells into
stem cells in mice and then replicated
that success in humans it was a major
science scientific breakthrough that
earned him the Nobel Prize in medicine
in
2012 and also eliminated the ethical
issue that he said motivated him the
controversial use of human embryos you
can accomplish all of the good things
without taking on the baggage of the bad
and now you could actually do this in
most Laboratories around the world stem
cell therapy is still at the very early
stages of development and the jury is
still out on whether yamanaka's
reprogramed cells or those cloned in
Oregon using the dolly method will prove
more
effective Ian wilmet himself gave up
cloning years ago and is using
yamanaka's method in his research on Lou
Garrick's disease in the next 10050
years we'll learn to treat most of the
degenerative diseases it's because of
our ability to produce these stem cells
and study them and it would be because
of our ability to fine cells to put into
the patient and all of that came from
cloning it started people thinking well
if we can take a cell and make it into a
whole animal what else can we do with
those
cells President Obama lifted the ban on
stem cell funding in 2009 but scadden
says its impact on his field still
resonates it is something that is a
little disturbing because it was a way
in which science suddenly was fighting
against non-scientific
principles that Legacy is the one that I
think is the most
troubling Dolly herself is on permanent
display at the national museum of
Scotland she is a favorite among both
kids who never knew a time when making a
clone was pure science fiction and
adults who remembered the stir in the
winter of 1997 when Dolly turned that
fiction into
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fact
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