Microsoft Word Kurzweil, Ray The Singularity Is Near doc

Why Is Cloning Important?
The most immediate use for cloning is improved breeding by offering the ability to 
directly reproduce an animal with a desirable set of genetic traits. A powerful example is reproducing animals from 
transgenic embryos (embryos with foreign genes) for pharmaceutical production. A case in point: a promising 
anticancer treatment is an antiangiogenesis drug called aaATIII, which is produced in the milk of transgenic goats.
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Preserving Endangered Species and Restoring Extinct Ones.
Another exciting application is re-creating animals 
from endangered species. By cryopreserving cells from these species, they never need become extinct. It will 
eventually be possible to re-create animals from recently extinct species. In 2001 scientists were able to synthesize 
DNA for the Tasmanian tiger, which had then been extinct for sixty-five years, with the hope of bringing this species 
back to life.
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As for long-extinct species (for example, dinosaurs), it is highly doubtful that we will find the fully 

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intact DNA required in a single preserved cell (as they did in the movie 
Jurassic Park
). It is likely, however, that we 
will eventually be able to synthesize the necessary DNA by patching together the information derived from multiple 
inactive fragments. 
Therapeutic Cloning.
Perhaps the most valuable emerging application is therapeutic cloning of one's own organs. By 
starting with germ-line cells (inherited from the eggs or sperm and passed on to offspring), genetic engineers can 
trigger differentiation into diverse types of cells. Because differentiation takes place during the prefetal stage (that is, 
prior to implantation of a fetus), most ethicists believe this process does not raise concerns, although the issue has 
remained highly contentious.
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