The Ethical Implications Of Cloning

Imagine if you lived in a world where everyone was the same and had no physical differences. Everyone would have the exact same DNA. There would be no diversity within the population. If we continue to clone then this may be a possibility for the future. As of now there have been no cloned humans, but we are not too far away from being able to do so. Scientists have been cloning since as early as 1886, and have been cloning animals since 1996 with the birth of Dolly the sheep. Dolly the sheep was created by using reproductive cloning which is used to produce copies of whole animals (Cloning Fact Sheet NHGRI). Furthermore, there are two other types of cloning; therapeutic cloning and gene cloning. Therapeutic cloning is used to produce embryonic stem cells for medical research (Cloning Fact Sheet NHGRI). Gene cloning is used to produce copies of genes or segments of DNA (Cloning Fact Sheet NHGRI). Cloning should not be allowed because it is inhumane and unethical, results in more failure than it does results, and is unfeasible.

Imagine a world where everyone looked like you and was related to you as a sibling, cousin, or any form of relation, wouldn’t that be freaky? Although cloning is not an important issue presently, it could potentially replace sexual reproduction as our method of producing children. Cloning is a dangerous possibility because it could lead to an over-emphasis on the importance of the genotype, no guaranteed live births, and present risks to both the cloned child and surrogate mother. It also violates the biological parent-child relationship and can cause the destruction of the normal structure of a family. The cloning of the deceased is another problem with cloning because it displays the inability of the parents to accept the child’s

As mentioned earlier, cloning is the copying of an organism that results in identical offspring (“Cloning”). Scientists have tried cloning many times on frogs and other organisms (“Cloning”), but when the first mammal to be cloned was successful in 1997, scientists jumped into pools of thoughts to clone humans. The first mammal to be cloned was a sheep named Dolly. The process of cloning Dolly was called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. The nucleus of a somatic stem cell is taken out of the eggs of the

A population of identical units, cells, or individuals that derive from the same ancestral line is know as Clone. Therapeutic cloning involves creating a cloned embryo for the sole purpose of producing embryonic stem cells with the same DNA as the donor cell. These stem cells can be used in experiments aimed at understanding disease and developing new treatments for disease. As I was going over the reading I found out that the matter of cloning from the different prospect of human has been the subject of considerable public attention and sharp moral debate. It also raises new questions about the manipulation of some human beings for the benefit of others, the freedom and value of biomedical inquiry, our obligation to heal the sick,

In the creation of technological advances that survives today, the dispute of cloning is ever existent as a debate of morals and human rights. People are asking if we have the right to clone humans and other animals. Cloning, the process of taking a cell from one organism, taking a donor womb cell from another organism of the same species, inserting the original cell in the donor cell, and placing the newly developed embryo inside a surrogate mother. This is an inhumane desecration of human rights and an obscene act against the natural balance of life. There are those who think that cloning is a brilliant idea and that it is tolerable to create life from an individual which already exists. Those in support of cloning have countless reasons for their opinion. They say that clones and cloning can be used for medical and research purposes, that clones are capable of populating our military. Another reason for cloning is to replace a deceased child or pet, or to enable infertile couples to have children. But these people in support of cloning seem to ignore one key factor that makes this act a violation of nature. All living human beings have feelings and thoughts, and that also includes clones. Cloning belittles the individualities each person and animals acquires, and many consider it an ethical injustice.

In recent years, cloning has been a controversial topic, being highly debated by scientists, politicians, and philosophers alike while invigorating popular culture through works such as Star Wars or Aldous Huxley 's’ Brave New World (Brock E-3). However, the fantastical examples of cloning to increase labor supply or selective cloning to create a caste system as these works depict, are highly irrelevant to problems society faces today with the prospect of cloning. Current medical technology suggests that cloning may be a new alternative to adoption or natural reproduction for couples that may have medical complications in pregnancy and birth, or couples that may be unable to conceive entirely.Yet, because this technology is so new, and admittedly, in an early, undeveloped stage, legislations or established moral standards are still fairly non-existent, making it essential that certain boundaries be formed. Subsequently, this paper will attempt to do so by suggesting and justifying that cloning be permitted and considered morally permissible as a means for reproduction. In this, works by D.Brock, C.Strong, E. Berg, L.Kass, and T.Takala will be used to argue that the overall benefits relative to health would outweigh any possible counter arguments against the use of reproductive cloning as an alternative to natural reproduction.

According to Mosby’s Medical Dictionary, the term “cloning” is defined as “a procedure for producing multiple copies of genetically identical organisms or cells or of individual genes.” Researchers have conducted several cloning experiments over the years, replicating tissues, organs, and even full organisms such as Dolly the Sheep in 1997. The history of cloning dates back to the early 1900’s when Hans Adolf Edward Dreisch studied the results of separating two-celled sea urchin embryos (“The History of Cloning”). The process has since evolved and become a process that is widely talked about amongst doctors, scientists and the general public. The process of cloning has been predicted to play a significant role in medical advancements in the near future. The main areas of which cloning could potentially affect are treatments for various diseases through organ replacement and infertility. As many topics in science, controversy exists regarding the subject of cloning in addition to its’ advantages and disadvantages.

While some believe cloning to be acceptable others feel equally strongly that human cloning is completely wrong. With the state of the science as it is at the moment it would involve hundreds of damaged pregnancies to achieve one single live cloned baby. What is more, all the evidence suggests that clones are unhealthy and often have a number of built-in genetic defects, which lead to premature ageing and death. It would be completely wrong to bring a child into the world knowing that it was extremely likely to be affected by problems like these. The dignity of human life and the genetic uniqueness we all have would be attacked if cloning became commonplace. People might be

In discussions of Cloning, one controversial issue has been Cloning Humans. On the one hand, Paul Stark argues that Cloning is wrong and shouldn't be done. On the other hand, Simon Smith contends that we could Clone human organs and put them into cloned pigs so that we have more organs for transplants and many more possibilities. My own view is in the middle of the issue. That I believe Cloning is dangerous and uncertain of the outcome. But the number of benefits from cloning is infinite.

In the early 1900’s scientists started investigating Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Through questioning and experimenting scientists were able to conclude every cell contained a specific set of instructions, which is known today as DNA. This discovery has led to a multitude of additional discoveries, including a better understanding of reproduction and genetic information. As advancements continued in learning about DNA, a new biotechnology was discovered called somatic cell nuclear transfer or SCNT. This is the process of taking out the information within the embryonic cell and replacing it with information from an adult body cell from a different being. By mixing the embryonic cell and the genetic information of another, a clone,

If a random individual were asked twenty years ago if he/she believed that science could clone an animal, most would have given a weird look and responded, “Are you kidding me?” However, that once crazy idea has now become a reality, and with this reality, has come debate after debate about the ethics and morality of cloning. Yet technology has not stopped with just the cloning of animals, but now many scientists are contemplating and are trying to find successful ways to clone human individuals. This idea of human cloning has fueled debate not just in the United States, but also with countries all over the world. I believe that it is not morally and ethically right

“We are only at the Wright brothers stage of development with respect to cloning” (Yount 110). The power of cloning can be harnessed and used in many different ways; the use of cloning is a new frontier for this time period, just like the power of flight was to the time period of the Wright brothers. The first major cloning breakthrough was made by Dr. Ian Wilmut, a 52 year old embryologist of Scotland, who announced on February 22nd, 1997, that he had successfully cloned a sheep named Dolly (Yount 11). This discovery was broadcasted throughout the entire world, and many different opinions were projected scrutinizing the morality and ethics of his work. The first cloning technique was performed using the nuclear transfer technique, also called

Cloning is the process of making an identical copy of any living thing such as gene, cell, or a whole organism. The varieties of cloning are gene, reproductive and therapeutic. Gene cloning is the process in which a gene of interest is located and copied out of DNA extracted from an organism. Reproductive cloning involves creating an animal that is genetically identical to a donor animal through somatic cell nuclear transfer. The A procedure in which damaged tissues or organs are repaired or replaced with genetically identical cells that originate from undifferentiated stem cells, basically it involves creating copies of cells to make someone better. Cloning used to be something that was only in science fiction

Cloning has definitely advanced over the past few decades. Ever since 1996 , when the first animal was cloned, scientists have been doing research to try to figure out a way to clone a human. I, however, do not like this idea. Why should something so unnatural and inhuman be able to be done in our lives? Some may argue that cloning is good for helping those with diseases , but where do we cross the line?

“Clones are organisms that are exact genetic copies. Every single bit of their DNA is identical. Clones can happen naturally—identical twins are just one of many examples. Or they can be made in the lab. Natural identical twins are similar to and different from clones made through modern cloning technologies.” (Genetic Science Learning Center) Cloning has many different aspects; there is the moral, social and ethical aspects of cloning. Along with this you have to consider who is being cloned. There is cloning for a human being, animal, or even food. Depending on what is being cloned is what determines if it is allowed or not. Throughout this paper I will discuss many of the aspects of cloning.