Theoretically, mammoths could be cloned by recovering, reconstructing or synthesizing viable mammoth DNA and injecting it into the egg cell of a modern elephant whose nuclear DNA has been removed; alternatively, mammoth genetic material could be introduced into an elephant genome in order to create a mammoth-elephant hybrid or chimera.
Some object to “deep” human intervention in nature, like the cloning of extinct organisms or the creation of chimeric organisms, on the grounds that such interventions amount to “playing God”. Since humans intervene in nature all the time and for good moral reasons, for example medicine, there cannot be something inherently morally problematic about such interventions.
Related on the SLP
Read the full, original story here: Mammoth cloning: the ethics
- “The quest is to clone a mammoth. The question is: should we do it?” Guardian
- “De-extinction: Looking past the awe,” Genetic Literacy Project
