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The Ethics of Human Cloning BY sparks Human Cloning: Fact or Fiction? Good or bad? Jeremy Parks 08/05/13 Microbiology unit 6 Assignment 1 July 5th, 1996, Dolly the Sheep was “born”. Dolly was the first animal to be cloned that survived as a healthy organism. This event opened a proverbial “can of worms” . The possibility of cloning and the excitement of It all was evident In movies of the time. Jurassic Park, Multiplicity and Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Just name a few. Dolly was a great scientific achievement and set the stage for future cloning science.
The ethics behind this kind of cloning became a hot debate and it is still a subject argued to this day. Can we and should we, clone a human being? Human cloning is considered by many as science fiction still. The fact is, human cloning is possible now. Not only Is it possible, but certain steps have already been taken towards this advancement In science. Cloning human beings sounds like a wonderful scientific advancement, but when we begin to look at the ethical and social ramifications, we have to ask how ethical this science really is.
The development and the success of animal cloning has raised concerns of human experimentation and the implementation of cloning human embryos. The World Health Organization has expressed its opinion that human cloning is unethical as well as the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. There are two mall areas for human cloning. Human reproduction, which Is cloning to produce a child , and therapeutic cloning, to provide compatible tissues and organs for replacement therapy. Reproductive cloning can help sterile individuals to have children and therapeutic cloning can be beneficial because of organ donor shortages.
The need for insuppressible drugs for organ transplants is eliminated with cloned organs from the patients’ own DNA. The opportunity to research and cure diseases with cloning could revolutionize patient care and how we treat diseases. Being born blind for Instance could eventually become an Inconvenience In the future. With a DNA sample and the proper growth techniques, the patient could have a new eye grown and transplanted to see again. With this amazing medical potential in sight, why is cloning not a regular medical practice?
There are serious ethical, sociological and psychological implications to consider. The risk of mutation in cloning humans is significant. Mutation In cell division happens naturally and frequently. If we begin to clone human embryos, the chance for mutation Is almost a certainty. If a human being Is successfully cloned, what happens to that clones offspring? Do they benefit from cloning, or do they suffer from it? Genetic anomalies will certainly be a given. What about disease? New diseases are a possibility when changing and altering DNA.
Can we foresee and calculate all the possible diseases that a clone would be susceptible o and would It be possible for new diseases to be made because of our tampering with the human genetic code? How will a clone be accepted socially In society? With Just a different skin color. Would they be considered a new class of citizen or would they be looked upon as human beings? Would slavery be easier to accept if it was a clone that is enslaved? Would they be seen as humans or disposable people? If cloning ever becomes a legal and acceptable practice, I doubt it will be a positive outcome for those clones.
The implications of religion and cloning will be a major issue. Many religions will see cloned humans as a bad thing. “Souls” are something given to those born naturally in many religious cultures and many would not accept the cloning technology. Intolerance would certainly exist towards clones. Intolerance of other cultures and societies exist today towards naturally born humans, so it would exist towards clones as well. Some may say that a clone is an individual while others might say they are Just carbon copies. This could lead to a desensitizing of our views towards life.
If you can clone a deceased loved one in the future, how will that impact how we hold life sacred? In my opinion, it would destroy the special views most humans have towards life. If you can clone someone again and again, life would begin to lose its meaning. If a human clone grew up knowing it was a clone, I wonder if he or she would recognize that it was not made naturally. Would this person be able to respect itself as a life form? The psychological impact would be immense. The family that cloned a son that was taken away from them through an accident or disease would have their own issues to contend with.
Is this really their son and did hey make the right decision? Clones could eventually see themselves as a genetically superior species. This could cause all sorts of new problems. Wars, terrorism and prejudice could become a major side effect of cloning. A non-clone human with disabilities or disease, could become a pariah amongst genetically superior , healthy cloned humans. While the fear of clones is most likely logical, the opposite is Just as true. Cloning humans to become organ farms would be morally reprehensible in my opinion. If we treated clones as organ parts, we would be ethically compromised as a species.
It would be immoral to clone a child in my opinion, but this is the future of cloning if it is allowed. In closing, I do not support cloning humans in this day and age. We do so much good as a people, yet we can cause so much strife towards our own selves. We are not mature enough to treat clones as human beings. I am certain we would abuse and neglect our human clones. If it ever becomes a commonplace medical practice to clone humans, the impact on our society will be extreme. Natural evolution would be interrupted and possibly have a detrimental effect on us as a species.
If this were to happen, I worry that we would not treat our cloned human family with the dignity and respect they would deserve. They will not have asked for their fate, yet we will have given it to them. In essence, we will have played god. In my opinion, we are not ready as a species to clone ourselves. We are not mature enough as a whole to care for and nurture cloned human beings. Perhaps we should look into fixing the humans that need our help now, instead of creating new ones. What we do with human cloning will change history for good or bad.
If it is going to happen, I hope we do it right. Being known as the generation that irreversibly damaged humanity with cloning is not my idea of positive history. Until we have fixed the majority of the problems on our planet with the humans that exist now, I personally do not think we should be source by Dint, was your basic read on cloning and science. The second source and the one I got much inspiration and enjoyment from, was by Logon. Both were good articles, but Logon used a lot of media and movie references about cloning in the public opinion.
Being a stalwart science fiction fan, I can appreciate that kind of rating and it keeps me interested in the story, far after the science fiction references are gone. Dint was logical and straight forward. At times, a bore. Logon kept me entertained throughout the reading. In conclusion, the main source that I used was not my favorite of the two, but it was a more logical choice for writing this paper.