Animal Cloning: Is It Morally Wrong?

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Animal cloning is a controversial topic that is fairly new because the idea of cloning an animal was science fiction until scientists in Scotland made science fiction a reality on July 5, 1996. The first successfully cloned animal was named Dolly the Sheep. The scientists that created Dolly the Sheep did not announce that they had cloned an animal until February the following year. Ever since Dolly the Sheep was created in Scotland, there have been many different animals cloned by scientists all over the world. Before the scientists in Scotland cloned Dolly the Sheep, they probably did not consider the moral dilemma that they were about to create. We all need to ask whether or not we believe that the cloning of animals is morally wrong and consider the negative consequences of cloning animals.
One of the obvious reasons why we might think that animal cloning is morally wrong is that it is the step before scientists clone a human. If a scientist thinks there is nothing morally wrong with cloning an animal, then what is to stop a scientist from cloning a human? The scientists that cloned Dolly the Sheep did not receive permission that they could clone a sheep; they just did it without approval. Who says that this exact way of thinking will not lead to the first cloning of a human? People that are not against animal cloning believe that “cloning animals such as pigs and rats is curiosity, almost a freak show, not an important moral event; nothing like cloning a human child” (Pence). I personally do not see how a person can see human cloning as the next goal scientists will try to achieve.
The supporters of animal cloning are also for cloning human stem cells or organs to help provide people in bad physical health with things they n...

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...oning animals is not morally wrong.

Works Cited
Pence, Gregory E. "Animal Cloning Paves the Way to Human Cloning." Cloning After Dolly: Who's Still Afraid? Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. Rpt. in Cloning. Ed. Sylvia Engdahl. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Contemporary Issues Companion. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
US Food and Drug Administration. "Cloned Meat Is Safe and Does Not Need to Be Labeled." Cloning. Ed. Jacqueline Langwith. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Animal Cloning and Food Safety." 2008. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Rifkin, Jeremy. "Genetic Engineering Is Cruel to Animals." Genetic Engineering. Ed. Lisa Yount. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Future Pharming." Animals (1998). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.

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