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Cloning Essay

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Cloning

For hundreds of years man has wondered what it would be like to clone human beings. With the idea of cloning comes many different opinions and positions. The idea of creating an army of "super humans" has long been a dream of many people. Others have feared what would happen to the world if cloning were possible and if cloning is morally correct. Overall, religion and ethics play a vital role in the both of these viewpoints and greatly effect many positions on the topic of cloning. In February of 1997 Dr. Ian Wilmut, a 52-year-old embryologist at the Roslin Institute in dinburgh announced the cloning of a lamb named Dolly 1. He had replaced the genetic material of sheep's egg with the DNA …show more content…

Many individuals also stated that now that the technology is available, its use is inevitable. Randolfe Wicker, a New York businessperson, founded the Clone Rights United Front after reports of the successful cloning. His goals are to continue to push for more research and to defend people’s rights.3 These examples show the rights of the individual, but ironically many people who fight for the rights of individuals, form groups to do so. In his Tuesday, February 25, 1997 article ‘Should We Fear Dolly?’ James K. Glassman, a writer for the Washington post discusses his favorable views on cloning. He points out that cloning is something that could someday be used for treatment to cure human diseases, and the ability to produce organs for transplanting as benefits for all of society. Also, he points out that while cloning people is against the law in other countries, it is not in the United States. He said, "I don't think it should be -- certainly not at this stage . . . Trying to stop intellectual progress, in any form, is a terrible mistake. Furthermore, the technology is not, in principle, policeable. In other words, you couldn't really stop research on human cloning if you wanted to." 4

Most of the scientific community favors the cloning of animals. Many, including Dr. Wilmut, argue that the potential for medical and

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