The Pros And Cons Of Cloning

When the novel “Frankenstein”, by Mary Shelley came out in 1831 the general public was introduced to the idea of man creating another man scientifically; without the use of reproduction. This idea is still very interesting today, however many ethical problems are implicated when scientists, like Victor Frankenstein, disrupt the moral and ethical standards like many modern day scientists have done today with cloning. The astronomical effects that followed after the creation of The Monster, demonstrates the horrid fact that creating a human was not natural or ethical.

Cloning has been in nature for thousands of years, a clone is a living thing made from another consisting of the same DNA. For example identical twins are clones because they have the same DNA but the differ because the twins begin after conception when a zygote, a totipotent stem cell, divides into two, some plants self-pollinate and produce a seed, which in turn, makes plants with the same genetic code (Hyde). According to the Human Genome Project there are three types of cloning, DNA, therapeutic and reproductive; DNA cloning involves transferring DNA from a donor to another organism, therapeutic cloning, known as embryo cloning, involves harvesting stem cells from human embryos to grow new organs for transplant, and last is reproductive cloning which creates a copy of the host (Conger). One of the earliest cloned animals was a sea urchin by Hans Dreisch in the late 1800’s. Unlike Victor Frankenstein, Dreisch’s goal was to prove that genetic material is not lost in cell division, not to create another being, (History of Cloning) stated by Frankenstein “that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.” There are many ways an animal...

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...eir own image of a human and defying the Bible’s moral standards. Scientists are becoming more knowledgeable and taking the place of God and taking away the use of sexually reproducing. There is no guarantee that cloned humans will be normal, they may have diseases that are unknown to scientists now. Cloned humans may have half the life of a normal human, and there is no guarantee that the clone will have the same personality as the original person, for example, if Abraham Lincoln was cloned there is no way to know if he will become a serial killer, or be pro slavery.

Human and animal cloning is still a debatable issue. People believe that cloning is playing God, just as Victor Frankenstein did when he created the Monster. While Victor Frankenstein’s creation ended in catastrophe, cloning’s seemly innocent side effects can still disrupt and alter the entire world.