The Ethics of Human Cloning

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Imagine this, it is a beautiful sunny afternoon so you decide to go for a walk, as you are walking, you see a woman holding the hand of her small daughter, but there seems to be something odd about the child. She’s a miniature version of her mother. You wonder how that could be, how can a child turn out to be just the same as her mother? The simple answer, you have just seen a clone. According to the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American Medical Association, cloning is defined as, “the production of genetically identical organisms via somatic cell nuclear transfer.” This, in simpler terms, means that cloning is the creation of identical organisms by taking the nucleus of an existing cell and placing it into another cell, one in which the nucleus has been removed. According to Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell, scientists are currently cloning human embryos and using them to conduct tests and research, and eventually end up killing the embryo (answeresingenesis.org). This act of cloning humans is unethical and should not be done, for a variety of reasons.
There are many physical harms caused by cloning. Some of these harms include an array of illnesses that come along with cloning. Another one of the harms is waste. This may seem like a strange way to say it, but the fact of the matter is that many of the embryos being cloned today are being killed and therefor, wasted. According to the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American Medical Association, “There have been countless demises among amphibians, lambs, and mice.” (ama-assn.org). Another source says that this is also true about human embryos. Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell states in her article, Human Clones: Created to Die, that, “Human beings, even IVF (in vitro...

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... the clone lives and if clones got to be very widespread they could potentially impact the gene pool. Needless to say, the cons definitely outweigh the pros and the impact clones would have on the everyday life of society would not be our greatest worry.

Works Cited

Mitchell, Dr. Elizabeth. "Human Clones: Created To Die." - Answers in Genesis. N.p., 30 May 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
Logston, Amy. "THE ETHICS OF HUMAN CLONING." THE ETHICS OF HUMAN CLONING. N.p.,13 Jan. 1999. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. .
American Medical Association, Council of the. "The Ethics of Human Cloning." American Medical Association. N.p., 1 June 1999. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. https://download.ama -assn.org/resources/doc/ethics/x-pub/report98.pdf

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