The insight gathered through this cloning experiment and the technique can be used to breed macaques for biomedical research, according to the team of researchers. This is because genetically identical copies of the same animals reduce variation in the results of testing new medications. “For the cloning of primate species, including humans, the technical barrier is now broken” (Greshko), the co-author Mu-Ming Poo stated. Poo is the director of the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “However, the reason we chose to break this barrier is to produce animal models that are useful for human medicine. There’s no intention to apply this method to humans” (Greshko). While this study suggests human cloning …show more content…
On the other hand, Eliza Bliss-Moreau believes animal test subjects will be useless due to improvements in genetics and computer modeling meaning cloned macaques will have no uses medically. Bliss-Moreau is a behavioral neuroscientist at the California National Primate Research Center and stated,“Technology has advanced so much in the last decade” (Greshko). “Some of the questions that you would think of in behavioral neuroscience as being targets for [cloning], we’re already tackling in other ways” (Greshko). This insists that technological advances which accompany cloning will render cloned macaques useless as test subjects and that they could be used in other fields. Despite this, many biomedical researchers believe primate models are crucial for researching intricate disorders from Parkinson’s, to AIDs, and autism. “I don’t think there will ever be a way we can avoid non-human primates in biomedical research” (Greshko), says Van Rompay. “If that happens, that would be great, but right now, in-vitro and computer models are not sufficient”