Human Cloning: A Chance for a Perfect World, or a Nightmare Come True?

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On February 24, 1997, scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh successfully cloned the first mammal, Dolly the Sheep. This was to have a huge impact on the world's views on cloning. Before, human cloning had just been a theory, a possibility which might be realised in relatively few years. There are many ethical and religious issues which come into question, but also many benefits of human cloning.



A clone is a creature with a genetic make-up identical to that of its parent. It only has one parent, as sexual reproduction is not required. In fact, cloning is what happens in any asexual reproduction, but the general assumption is that cloning is an unnatural process, performed by humans. Human cloning, however, is unnatural. Asexual reproduction generally happens in plants, and only a few varieties of plants use this method of reproduction. To clone an animal requires a very precise scientific method which until recently, has been thought of as nearly impossible to implement. Many people assume a clone will look identical to the parent, but this is not necessarily true, as, aside from being a younger version of the parent, different environments and stimuli in the development of the clone will alter its appearance.



Cloning is the ultimate form of genetic engineering, creating a perfect copy of an animal, whether it is to make a large pig which will yield lots of meat, or a replacement child for grieving parents. As many people are already against other forms of genetic engineering, it goes without saying that there will be people opposed to cloning, possibly more than with other genetic engineering, as there are more issues involved in human cloning than with growing a large tomato. This, of course, is an issue in itself, as how is it alright for humans to clone and alter vegetables and possibly animals but that it is unethical to clone humans?

Reasons for human cloning



One of the main arguments for cloning is that a clone would have matching organs to a parent, and would therefore be able to donate an organ without risk of rejection. This is a very plausible situation, the parent would ask for a clone to be made in case of future illness, and the clone would be there, ready to donate whenever the need arose. Or, in the case of a diseased organ which is non-fatal, a clone could be grown after the illness is discovered, and the organ transplanted when the clone is old enough to have large enough organs. In the case of heart transplants, or other situations where the organ is vital, the clone would have to be killed. This could be justified by arguing that the clone is merely an extension of the parent, although in my opinion this is a very poor argument.

Another reason for cloning oneself would be for intellectual reasons, or just interest, for example a 50 year old man might want to clone himself to see what he would have been like growing up 50 years later than he did. This would be an intriguing psychological experiment on how different situations affect people. This may be thought of as selfish, but the child would not grow up in a laboratory with scientists recording his or her every move, but in a loving family, living like any other child.

One of the feared reasons for cloning is to create a race of "perfect" humans, all identical, with high IQs and beautiful faces, but most of us realise that this is highly unlikely to happen, since one of the aspects of a good society is variety, and difference of opinion. If everyone looked the same, we'd get tired of looking at each other, there are many different forms of beauty, and to clone one person's idea of beauty would be to force another person to look at a wall of hideous faces all day long.

Reasons against human cloning



Many of the arguments against cloning are religious, involving the existence of the soul. A definite reason against cloning for matching organs is that the clone will have its own soul, not the same soul as the person being cloned, and therefore has the right to live, and to choose what happens to it. This argument is valid even when the existence of the soul is not considered, because no one can deny that the clone will be a human in its own right, and therefore has the same human rights as anyone else. This is not so much an argument against cloning itself, but an argument against cloning for organs.

Many people are concerned that not enough research has been done into abnormalities which may occur in the clone. There is a high risk of abnormalities developing, and it is unethical to destroy an embryo just because it is not perfect. It is also not right to bring a child into the world knowing that there is a high chance it will be abnormal in some way, as it will have a lower quality of life than a healthy natural child. Since neither of these is truly acceptable, cloning should be avoided.

A widely used argument against cloning is the possibility of creating perfect races or a group of identical people. Although this is a very unlikely situation, with the technology being developed all the time, it is a scarily possible situation.



All in all, cloning is not a technology to be shunned and hidden in a cupboard, but neither should it be used lightly. The maximum research needs to be put in before any cloning takes place, and governments should be especially careful about what laws they enforce on cloning, and how they are enforced.


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