one that appears to be a copy of an original form

In some ways, the idea of cloning and its involvement with Transhumanism is considered to be taboo although much is known of cloning in the industrialized scientific world, with it being the subject of controversy and heated debate for decades.

Some conspiracy theorists and groups within the Truth Movement are adamant that human cloning is apparent and obvious, and some blogs even go so far as to suggest without a shadow of a doubt that certain politicians and members of the elite have already been cloned multiple times; yet, they are never able to offer any substantial evidence. The issue is not that human cloning is not possible, or, for that matter, has not been accomplished, but that we must take a look at the available evidence of what has been done in the past, what we know is being done now, and what could possibly be embarked upon in the near future.

As stated previously, this publicly taboo subject has a relentlessly large following of die-hard believers who have become so wrapped up in the wider fantastical 'science fiction' side of the topic that it encompasses a large part of their often mis-catalogued reality. To reasonably discuss other elements of

genetics, such as debating the future dangers of cloning the human form, one is often met with blind hostility. Human cloning technology has a pivotal list of ethical and moral considerations to acknowledge, as well as being a far more dangerous evolutionary path to walk than simply making an exact replica of oneself, when a need arises.

Cloning has been, and is being, actively researched and developed in laboratories all over the world. The test subjects range from micro bacteria to farm animals, as well as plants and food. Although in the United States the technology to conduct human cloning - and even stem cell research - has been heavily debated and regulated, there has been little to no push by the public to demand further research into the cloning conducted on everything else.

The majority of the public are unaware, or perhaps never stop to consider, that the meat patty from just one hamburger has on average, sources of meat from around 1,000 cows¹, and the percentage of cows that were actually made by the cloning process grows higher by the year². Unless you are concerned about buying non-GMO, it is highly likely that the items you select with your grocery budget may actually be your personal purchase of offspring from cloned produce - or cloned produce itself: in other words, 100% certified laboratory produced.

Eating cloned produce and GMO foods will no doubt affect your health, and so, becoming sick and requiring a medicine like penicillin, or an antibiotic (which should be avoided), will likely mean that the medicine or vaccine you are putting into your body is yet another product of synthetic biology, created for, and by, the cloning process itself.

1 What’s Really Fast Food?, The Community College of Baltimore County, http://student.ccbcmd.edu/~mashkene/fastFoodNation/hamburgers.html (accessed 27 Jun. 2013)

2 Trans Ova Genetics, http://www.transova.com/ (accessed 17 May 2013)

The history of how cloning came about is interesting as it deals with, in many ways, the birth of microbiology and other related fields - and if we look at it in this way then we could say that the first evolutionary steps taken towards this technology happened in 1608 when Zacharias Jansen¹ invented the first microscope, introducing the world to the microorganism cosmos. Many science and technology related innovations took place over the next 350 years, and in the1960s, the debate of human cloning reached the public’s eyes and ears².

However, the study of cloning and genetic engineering was being conducted by some German scientists during World War II in order to create more perfect humans, and multiples of such.

The scientists that survived the war were brought to the United States shortly after under the direction of Operation Paperclip³. Through the 1960s, and into the early 1970s, a number of published papers hit the public arena regarding this subject. The information was not only compelling, but it was the work of highly regarded scientists, and specifically geneticists, and yet, it just sort of washed away. Why?

It is extremely odd that when researching the history of cloning, there seems to be a heavy lack of information, since cloning is certainly not a subject that has been disregarded by the governments of the world. The United Nations⁴

1 History of the Microscope, 'Hans and Zacharias Jansen: A complete microscope history', http://www.history-of-the-microscope.org/hans-and-zacharias-jansen-microscope-history.php (accessed 12 Jun. 2013)

, the World

2 Basic Science Partnership, 'History of Cloning', Harvard Medical School, The President and Fellows of Harvard College, https://bsp.med.harvard.edu/?q=node/18 (accessed 17 May 2013)

3 Operation Paperclip, http://www.operationpaperclip.info/ (accessed 24 Nov. 2011)

4 UN News Centre, 'General Assembly ban on all human cloning to be reconsidered by UN ethics panel', United Nations,

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28544&Cr=clo..#.Uhrfez832So (accessed 17 May 2012)

Health Organization¹, the United States Military², the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration³, the U.S. Center for Disease Control⁴, and various other entities, have been focused on cloning research, funding its progression, and, reporting on it for decades. So, with an underwhelming bulk of available data, something is definitely awry.

With cloning being an eerily unspoken topic, does this suggest that it could be nothing more than a fictitious urban legend for the crazy, or gullible? Not a chance, because whilst the information might require a lot of digging to find, I have managed to secure over 360 documents from the entities mentioned above, and others from many more. Cloning did not disappear, but it has taken huge leaps in advancement and is a clear and present danger to life.

One could argue that cloning has pros and cons, and they would be correct. Finding the balance between both is the trouble. In the area of stem cells, cloning is being researched in order to cure diseases such as cancer, among other illnesses. As a side note, there is a growing belief following evidence to suggest that the mainstream medical world are not sharing what they know about many life-threatening diseases like cancer, but that is another line of research that needs review elsewhere, and I would strongly suggest the reader follow through on this.

1 World Health Organization, Publication search on Cloning,

http://apps.who.int/iris/simple-search?query=cloning&submit=Go (accessed 12 Feb.

2012)

2 Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence, 'DARPA, Venter launch assembly line for genetic engineering', KurzweilAI Network, http://www.kurzweilai.net/darpa-venter-launch-assembly-line-for-genetic-engineering (accessed 23 May 2012)

3 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 'Animal Cloning', U.S. Department of Health &

Human Services,

http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/AnimalCloning/default.htm (accessed 17 May 2013)

4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 'Genomics and Health', U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/public/faq.htm (accessed 7 Apr. 2013)

Stem cells can be grown (cloned) and either reintroduced into the area that needs repair, or the organ needing replacement can be grown externally in a sterile environment. Genetic scientists have already proven that growing organs (noses, ears) on the backs of mice and rats actually works¹. Innovations have since progressed, and we will continue the topic of cloning human body parts in another section that will go directly into the link between cloning and the Human Genome Project. More on that later.

Some may argue that the cloning of farm animals, such as sheep, pigs, chickens, cows, and even horses, serves humanity well. When was the last time you recall hearing about the FDA, or USDA doing something truly beneficial for the people of mankind? Right now there are ranches and laboratories all over the United States cloning the animals mentioned above for the purposes of horse racing, animal shows, auctions, and designing 'better quality meat'², as well as allegedly saving the consumer some money by making a cheaper product. But let us not forget that animals are not a 'product'.

In researching cloning and discovering a small portion of the greater many, like Bovance³, Trans Ova Genetics⁴, VIAGEN⁵, and, Start Licensing Inc.⁶

1 Public Broadcasting Service, 'The Body Shop',

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1107/features/body.htm (accessed 1 Aug. 2013)

, it became clear that the shortage of farm animals is not the problem - we are. We are too concerned about consumerism and consumption; too greedy and lazy to give a damn about eating the right food, carelessly taking rights

2 Davey Alba, 'World’s First Lab-Grown Burger Unveiled and Eaten in London', IEEE Spectrum, http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/energy/environment/worlds-first-labgrown-burger-unveiled-and-eaten-in-london (accessed 5 Aug. 2013)

3 Diane M. Broek, Melain Rodriguez, 'Important Notice to All Bovance Customers', ViaGen, http://www.viagen.com/news/important-notice-to-all-bovance-customers/

(accessed 17 May 2013)

4 Trans Ova Genetics, http://www.transova.com/welcome.html (accessed 17 May 2013)

5 ViaGen, http://www.viagen.com/ (accessed 17 May 2013)

6 Start Licensing, Inc., http://www.startlicensing.com/index.html (accessed 17 May 2013)

away from our animals and calling them, instead, our 'food'. It is the human race that is the problem, and because we cannot get a grip on our gluttony, these forms of life are being subjected to research and development under the banner of cloning to create MORE desire for consumption, more prized money-making show horses, and millions more buckets of drum sticks.

There are also the animals being used as tools for growing human stem cells, and this creates a need for us to reverse the roles and question the legitimacy and ethical nature of genetic science with regards to our right to determine and rank the importance of any form of life. If an evolved race of beings approached us openly, seeking our assistance to repopulate after destroying themselves by cloning, greed, and over consumption, I question whether we'd offer our lives for cloning, however 'humanely' it was presented, even if it were carried out under strict regulation and oversight.

The deeper we look into cloning, the greater the arguments become in support of both sides. It is hard to argue against it being good for the production of medicine - but it can be done.

When we discuss the topic of medicine and cloning we also have to consider the sciences of synthetic biology and biotechnology, and, regarding this, one profound question can be asked immediately to an intelligent critical thinker, who would most likely answer with an undeniable and absolute 'no':

Would you inject, inhale, or injest an unknown laboratory synthesized microorganism, if there was no way of knowing whether the medicine was 100% organic? Clearly, we can see that this issue is much more complicated than stated, which is why we will approach this in a section of its own.

It is just as difficult to dismiss cloning when we consider it for the brilliant innovation of biofuel¹

1 Biotechnology for Biofuels, Articles, BioMed Central Ltd.,

http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/6/1/26 (accessed 7 Aug. 2013)

. In some environmental circles, biofuel is the glorious savior from fossil fuels. But can

you guess what matter is being genetically manipulated and cloned at the greatest levels in biotechnology labs for the research and production of biofuel? The answer is algae, a large group of diverse, mostly aquatic organisms, essential, among other things, for keeping our atmosphere breathable.

Diverge from these pages for a moment, and take a look at how biofuel is made¹, and consider this in regards to it: When various genetic food labs were working on the new GMO salmon², they had the test subjects in closed off fishery ponds - but those ponds were not 100% secure. Some of the salmon slipped out, and although it is not spoken of, there is a justified fear of the GMO salmon breeding with wild natural salmon, and this could cause a number of problems that will roll out over time, including infertility. If we now relate this to a huge biofuel processing center with trillions of tiny algae plants that are being tweaked, cloned and genetically manipulated on a continuing basis, we realize that the alarming possibility of some live species washing through into the wild is massively high.

But the issue does not stop there. Scientists, geneticists, and big oil companies are looking into the following as additional biofuel possibilities: GMO corn; potatoes; frog foam (a photosynthetic material with a number of uses); chicken feathers; tobacco plants; soy beans; and, among countless others, the conversion of CO2 into a liquid fuel with bacteria.

The list goes on and on.

In concluding this very summarized section on the topic, I wanted to state that I do believe, and know, that there is an

1 Tina Casey, 'ExxonMobil’s Excellent Algae Biofuel Adventure…Or Not', Clean Technica, http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/20/exxonmobil-algae-biofuel-research-appears-to-scale-back/ (accessed 20 May 2013)

2 Melanie Leather, 'Warning over GM fish: hybrid salmon can breed with wild species and harm ecosystem', The Independent,

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/warning-over-gm-fish-hybrid-salmon-can-breed-with-wild-species-and-harm-ecosystem-8636294.html (accessed 29 May 2013)

Above Top Secret human cloning/genetic manipulation project happening right now. When the scientific community, or the military, make some kind of advanced technology public, you can be certain that in their secretive world it is actually obsolete.

Too many leaks in the past within the government, military, and private industries have proven time and time again that there is much happening behind closed doors, and even more occurring deep underground. Cloning, in all its variations and aspects, is playing the highly sought out role of 'The Creator', and nothing is more dangerous. It takes just one infinitesimally small or miscalculated mistake for a horrible chain reaction to occur that could bring an unwanted sea change in the life of humanity, or the life we are supposed to coexist with on this planet.

Cloning carries the possibilities of more control, more over-consumption, more greed, and even the creation of uncontrollable genetically designed pandemics, however unintentional or remotely small the probability of that might be.

Before we leave this topic, I have a recommendation for the reader in the form of a movie. It is simply titled, Moon (2009)¹

1 Moon, dir. by Duncan Jones (2009; Sony Pictures, 2011 DVD)

and though I will not give a description, I highly recommend , the reader considers watching it.