The journey that human cloning has taken has been one of dramatic highs and lows, heated arguments and confusion about the path ahead. When researchers witnessed the birth of the first cloned mammal, they were ecstatic, but this high ended with the tragic early death of this sheep, Dolly, due to abnormalities (Jaenisch 2004: 2787). The initial success and progress in this field fueled scientists to want to do further research into this technology, which would eventually leading to work with human embryos. This work grew to a high enough profile to be addressed by former president George W. Bush, who decided to take away all funding for human cloning. This cut included both therapeutic cloning that worked with embryos not intended to be implanted for a future live birth and reproductive cloning that made embryos designed for this purpose. The president’s decision caused controversy, but it was later continued by the current president Barack Obama. The confusion about whether the cloning of human cells is ethical is centered on the lack of understanding of the technology itself and the ramifications of its widespread use. Although there are many arguments for this technology, the changes it would make to society and culture, the reasons that point in favor of the non-implementation of this technology, and the dramatic issues that human cloning itself has all show that the cloning of humans should not occur.
Although predictions of the future are fundamentally flawed, one can see the general direction that human cloning would take the society and culture of the world. On an individual level, cloning would produce an individual who is genetically linked to another far closer than natural reproduction ever could. A parent co...
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...se is easily avoided simply by stopping the current use and future development of cloning in human beings (Bowring 2003: 401).
Works Cited
Bottum, J. "Against Human Cloning." Human Life Review 27.2 (2001): 121. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
Bowring, Finn. "Therapeutic and Reproductive Cloning: A Critique." Social Science & Medicine (1982) 58.2 (2004): 401-409. MEDLINE. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
Jaenisch, Rudolf. "Human cloning—the science and ethics of nuclear transplantation." N Engl J Med 351.27 (2004): 2787-91.
Kass, Leon R, Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity. San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2002.
Nelkin, Dorothy, “The Social Power of Genetic Information”. London: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Williamson, Robert. "Human reproductive cloning is unethical because it undermines autonomy: commentary on Savulescu." Journal of medical ethics 25.2 (1999): 96.
Silver’s argument illustrates to his audience that reproductive cloning deems permissible, but most people of today’s society frown upon reproductive cloning and don’t accept it. He believes that each individual has the right to whether or not they would want to participate in reproductive cloning because it is their reproductive right. However, those who participate in cloning run the risk of other’s imposing on their reproductive rights, but the risk would be worth it to have their own child.
Therapeutic cloning is the process whereby parts of a human body are grown independently from a body from STEM cells collected from embryos for the purpose of using these parts to replace dysfunctional ones in living humans. Therapeutic Cloning is an important contemporary issue as the technology required to conduct Therapeutic Cloning is coming, with cloning having been successfully conducted on Dolly the sheep. This process is controversial as in the process of collecting STEM cells from an embryo, the embryo will be killed. Many groups, institutions and religions see this as completely unacceptable, as they see the embryo as a human life. Whereas other groups believe that this is acceptable as they do not believe that the embryo is a human life, as well as the fact that this process will greatly benefit a large number of people. In this essay I will compare the view of Christianity who are against Therapeutic Cloning with Utilitarianism who are in favour of Therapeutic Cloning.
Children grow up watching movies such as Star Wars as well as Gattaca that contain the idea of cloning which usually depicts that society is on the brink of war or something awful is in the midsts but, with todays technology the sci-fi nature of cloning is actually possible. The science of cloning obligates the scientific community to boil the subject down into the basic category of morality pertaining towards cloning both humans as well as animals. While therapeutic cloning does have its moral disagreements towards the use of using the stem cells of humans to medically benefit those with “incomplete” sets of DNA, the benefits of therapeutic cloning outweigh the disagreements indubitably due to the fact that it extends the quality of life for humans.
Brown, Alistair. "Therapeutic Cloning: The Ethical Road To Regulation Part I: Arguments For And Against & Regulations." Human Reproduction & Genetic Ethics 15.2 (2009): 75-86. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
McGee, Glenn, (2001). Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning. ActionBioscience.org. Retrieved October 3, 2004, from: http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/mcgee.html
If a random individual were asked twenty years ago if he/she believed that science could clone an animal, most would have given a weird look and responded, “Are you kidding me?” However, that once crazy idea has now become a reality, and with this reality, has come debate after debate about the ethics and morality of cloning. Yet technology has not stopped with just the cloning of animals, but now many scientists are contemplating and are trying to find successful ways to clone human individuals. This idea of human cloning has fueled debate not just in the United States, but also with countries all over the world. I believe that it is not morally and ethically right to clone humans. Even though technology is constantly advancing, it is not reasonable to believe that human cloning is morally and ethically correct, due to the killing of human embryos, the unsafe process of cloning, and the resulting consequences of having deformed clones.
Fackelmann, Kathy. “Cloning Human Embryos.” Society for Science & the Public (1994): 92-93. JSTOR. Web.
“Cloning represents a very clear, powerful, and immediate example in which we are in danger of turning procreation into manufacture.” (Kass) The concept of cloning continues to evoke debate, raising extensive ethical and moral controversy. As humans delve into the fields of science and technology, cloning, although once considered infeasible, could now become a reality. Although many see this advancement as the perfect solution to our modern dilemmas, from offering a potential cure for cancer, AIDS, and other irremediable diseases, its effects are easily forgotten. Cloning, especially when concerning humans, is not the direction we must pursue in enhancing our lives. It is impossible for us to predict its effects, it exhausts monetary funds, and it harshly abases humanity.
In the past, cloning always seemed like a faraway scientific fantasy that could never really happen, but sometimes reality catches up to human ingenuity and people discover that a fictional science is all too real. Such was the fate of cloning when Dolly, a cloned sheep, came into existence during 1997, as Beth Baker explains (Baker 45). In addition to opening the eyes of millions of people, the breakthrough raised many questions about the morality of cloning humans. The greatest moral question is, when considering the pros against the cons, if human cloning is an ethical practice. There are two different types of cloning and both entail completely different processes and both are completely justifiable at the end of the day.
Brannigan, C. Michael. Ethical Issues in Human Cloning. New York: Seven Bridges Press, Chatham House Publishers, 2001.
In the essay, Cloning Reality: Brave New World by Wesley J. Smith, a skewed view of the effects of cloning is presented. Wesley feels that cloning will end the perception of human life as sacred and ruin the great diversity that exists today. He feels that cloning may in fact, end human society as we know it, and create a horrible place where humans are simply a resource. I disagree with Wesley because I think that the positive effects of controlled human cloning can greatly improve the quality of life for humans today, and that these benefits far outweigh the potential drawbacks that could occur if cloning was misused.
2) Annas, George J. “Why We Should Ban Human Cloning,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 339, no. 2 (July 9, 1998), pp. 118-125.
"Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry." The President's Council on Bioethics Washington, D.C. N.p., July-Aug. 2002. Web.
Imagine a world in which a clone is created only for its organs to be transplanted into a sick person’s body. Human cloning has many possible benefits, but it comes with concerns. Over the past few decades, researchers have made several significant discoveries involving the cloning of human cells (ProQuest Staff). These discoveries have led to beneficial medical technologies to help treat disease (Aldridge). The idea of cloning an entire human body could possibly revolutionize the medical world (Aldridge). However, many people are concerned that these advancements would degrade self-worth and dignity (Hyde and Setaro 89). Even though human cloning brings about questions of bioethics, it has the potential to save and recreate the lives of humans and to cure various diseases without the use of medication (Aldridge, Hyde and Setaro).
Robinson, Bruce. “Human Cloning: Comments by political groups, religious authorities, and individuals.” 3 August 2001. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 1 October 2001 <http://www.religioustolerance.org/clo_reac.htm>.