Human Cloning
...lanted into a surrogate. (“Cloning Techniques”, online article) Now that we understand the technical terms, lets put it into a better perspective. First we must understand both the good and the bad in human and stem cell cloning. How can the world benefit from cloning? There are many medical benefits. We know that heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. Many of us have known or heard of someone dying of heart disease. According to scientists, the use of cloning technology can reverse heart attacks by treating heart attack victims with clones of their own healthy heart cells. They inject them into the damaged parts of the heart. A major breakthrough in cloning is the cloning of embryonic stem cells, stem cells that come from embryos. “These embryonic stem cells can be grown to produce organs or tissues to repair or replace damaged ones. Skin for burn victims, brain cells for the brain damaged, spinal cord cells for quadriplegics and paraplegics, hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys could be produced. By combining this technology with human cloning technology it may be possible to produce needed tissue for suffering people that will be free of rejection by their immune systems. Conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, heart failure, degenerative joint disease, and other problems may be made curable if human cloning and its technology are not banned.” (“Cloning Info and Benefits”, online article) Doesn’t this sound amazing? Imagine all of these medical problems that scientists and doctors have been trying to find a cure for many years can finally be reversed. This is only the tip of the iceberg. The use of human cloning and the cloning of stem cells can do so much more. Infertile women now have a chance to have babies, accident victims with deformities, such as missing limbs or a deformed face can now have it fixed, and people who want plastic surgery won’t have to use foreign objects such as breast implants that their body could reject. Instead they can use natural skin graphs, tissue, fat, etc. For many people, this is the answer to their prayers. But for others, it is a curse of ethical dilemma. Notice that the cloning question is really two questions: (1) May we clone a baby, a copy of a human being? That is called reproductive cloning. (2) May we clone cells into the embryonic stage and then use it for parts, such as stem cells? That is called research cloning. Instead of may we do these things, perhaps I should say should we do these things? Of course, with the good comes the bad. The promise of research conflicting with the ethics of humanity is what causes a problem. Although human cloning might seem great in some aspects, many feel that it is morally wrong. Who is to say what is right or wrong? Is creating a human being just to be used for parts a moral sin? Scientists say that clones would be made without brains. Does this make it right? Are we playing the role of God? Do these clones have a soul? Some say that if it is not made from God then it does not have a soul, so it is ethical. Others say that because it is created from something with a soul, then it too has a soul. Therefore, it is unethical. One of the main ethical issues surrounding stem cells research is the destruction of potential life. Many argue that life begins at conception, and therefore an embryo has as much right to life as any human. Who has the upper hand of judgment here? The problem is that we do not know. The even bigger problem is that we might never know. These questions raise issues that must be addressed by both the scientific community and the public if cloning humans is ever going to become feasible. According to a CNN/Time poll released March 1st 1997, 89% of Americans think it is morally wrong to clone humans, while 66% said it is morally wrong to clone animals. Almost half of Americans are willing to eat fruits and vegetables that are cloned, however, only 33% are willing to eat meat from a cloned animals. The poll asked if cloning humans is against God’s will-74% responded yes, while 19% responded no. Finally, a shocking 7% say that they would clone themselves. (CNN/Time, “Poll: Most Americans Say Cloning is Wrong”, online article) On February 23rd 1997, scientists inserted a sheep’s DNA into an unfertilized egg. The result was Dolly the sheep, a six-month old lamb. She was the first successful clone of an adult sheep. She had the same genetic makeup as her donor. When people heard that a sheep had been cloned, it was unreal to them. How could a living being be created by science? Look how far science has come since then. On December 26, 2002, the first cloned baby was born. Her name is Eve, and she is a very healthy baby. However, how is the world going to react to her, as she gets older? If one was to see her on the street, would they treat her different from everyone else? Is it fair to her? The slippery slope has begun, and it will never end. Scientists always want another day, and when it does finally work, they want to do more. Who knows, by the time Eve grows up half of the population could be clones. It has been about six years since Dolly the sheep was cloned, and it seems like cloning is still stuck in the dark ages. Sure it might sound simple to many, but according to scientists, the failure rate is much higher than the success rate. It took scientists 276 tries until Dolly the sheep was created. Also, malformed fetuses are very common. Is this fair? Hundreds of eggs and embryos get wasted because the cloning process was unsuccessful. The question is should we let scientists try to clone as many times as they want to for the sake of science? It seems like the line to cross keeps getting further and further away. When are limits going to be set on science? ...