The Ethics of Cloning Humans

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The Ethics of Cloning Humans

Imagine yourself walking down the street, forty or fifty years from now. Everything is normal, there people walking to their destinations. You continue to walk your way, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you realize you are see a lot of the same people more than once. You just take it to mean that there are a lot of people walking in circles. As your day continues you see more and more of the same people. Meeting up with one of your friends you asks, "hey, lately, have you noticed that everyone looks like everyone else?" Your friend looks at you with disbelief, "haven't you been paying attention to the news, and the papers? Everyone, that can afford it, is getting cloned."

The recent cloning of a sheep has people debating the pluses and minuses of that kind of research. Now the debate has changed to whether or not to clone humans. The pros and cons of this project are both important and have to be considered. A lot of people are strongly against this "playing God". In some cases the cloning should be considered. The cloning should only be used to help infertile couples to have children and to find cures for diseases. What would be the point of cloning a model, a singer, or movie star.

Religious leaders and ethical philosophers oppose such human experiments. There is the danger of people playing God, mankind is another step closer to wielding the powers of God. For those who aren't born multiples, there isn't supposed to be another like them. The religious opinion on cloning to cure diseases is a not clear. Would that be qualified as playing God? Should scientist not try to cure Parkinson's or Alzheimer's? I do believe that God wants for the sick to be helped.

The scientific arguments against human cloning were based on the results of animal trials in which mice, the infamous cloned sheep Dolly, and other mammals developed all kinds of unpredictable genetic defects. The potential represented by cloning does not automatically outweighs the risk of unseen con-sequences. There are enough people in this world without "making" more. Maybe they should be more interested in cloning needed things like food. If cloning is completely outlawed then there will probably be no hope for finding the cures for those fore-mentioned diseases.

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