Current State Laws on Human Cloning
California
Cal. Health & Safety Code, §§24185 to 24189.
Bans efforts to create a human being by utilizing somatic cell nuclear transfer "for the purpose of, or to implant, the resulting product to initiate a pregnancy that could result in the birth of a human being." Ban is to expire January 1, 2003 unless extended by legislature.
Louisiana
La. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 40 §§1299.36 to 1299.36.6.
Forbids any person to "clone or attempt to clone a human being," and forbids a health facility or agency to "allow any individual to clone or attempt to clone a human being in a facility owned or operated by the health facility or agency." "Clone" is defined as in California law, to involve an intent to initiate a pregnancy. However, a separate state law prohibits intentionally destroying a viable fertilized ovum, and requires that "[n]o in vitro fertilized human ovum will be farmed or cultured solely for research purposes or any other purposes." La. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 9, §§ 129, 122. Whether this prohibits use of cloned embryos for research depends on how courts will interpret the phrase "fertilized human ovum."
Michigan
Mich. Comp. Laws §§333.16274, 333.16275, 750.430a.
Forbids any individual to "engage in or attempt to engage in human cloning," applying civil penalties (up to a $10 million fine) and criminal penalties ($10 million fine and up to ten years in prison). "Human cloning" means "the use of human somatic cell nuclear transfer technology to produce a human embryo." §333.16274(5). This law clearly forbids creating a cloned human embryo for any purpose, including research. A separate state law also forbids using a live human embryo "for nontherapeutic research if... the research substantially jeopardizes the life or health of the embryo..." Performing such research is a felony. §§333.2685 (1), 333.2691.
Rhode Island
R.I. Gen. Laws §23-16.4-2 to 23-16.4-4.
Bans use of somatic cell nuclear transfer "for the purpose of initiating or attempting to initiate a human pregnancy," as well as the creation of "genetically identical human beings" by "dividing a blastocyst, zygote, or embryo." The law seems to ban cloning by nuclear transfer only if done to initiate a pregnancy. However, a separate law prohibits the use of "any live human fetus, whether before or after expulsion from its mother's womb, for scientific, laboratory research, or other kind of experimentation.
No rules, regulations, or boundaries have been set for this process, causing misuse already. Currently some countries use it to avoid having female children (Steere). This is aiding in an even more male dominated society, setting up a divide between genders even more so than today. Further misuse of this invention could create a faction of parents only wanting to use the process to make a profit off of the child's stem cells. Along with the gender inequality and profit, the cost of this process would also form a prominent division between the rich and
Research on human fetal life involves numerous complex medical, moral, and legal aspects. It is not always easy, nor desirable, to seal off one aspect from another. Both sides of fetal tissue use will be equally focused on as a moral issue. The topic is a timely and important one because research on human fetal life is reportedly a growing industry and the subject of legal developments both in the United States and around the world.
The Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico got worldwide attention on January 1, 1994, when they marched to Mexico City against the signing of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The free trade agreement was intended to facilitate trading between Canada, United States, and Mexico. The Zapatista claimed that this agreement would affect the indigenous people of Chiapas by further widening the gap between the poor and the rich. In this paper I will examine the NAFTA agreement and the Zapatista’s ideology and claims against the NAFTA agreement to see whether or not any real effects have risen within the indigenous people of Chiapas Mexico and in Mexico as a whole.
The customs that college students go through are mostly a result of the environment they live in. The walls of college sports arenas everywhere have advertisements from alcohol industry sponsors somewhere, even if it is in the smallest area, it is still visible. Magness Arena does not have advertisements on the walls but they do sell beer to students. I have seen many students that go to University of Denver get alcohol when at a game. Local establishments near campus that serve or sell alcohol, depend on the college clientele for their financial success. These students that help with the local establishments normally get their beer for parties. Many people think that it will be easier to meet people at party if there is alcohol. When the majority of students look at a college they look at the sports teams, academics, and they actually...
Fackelmann, Kathy. “Cloning Human Embryos.” Society for Science & the Public (1994): 92-93. JSTOR. Web.
What do one think of when they hear the words “Designer Babies”? A couple designing their own baby of course, and it’s become just that. Technology has made it possible for there to be a way for doctors to modify a babies characteristics and its health. Genetically altering human embryos is morally wrong, and can cause a disservice to the parents and the child its effecting.
People do not want horrible freaks of nature running around, so they want to completely ban stem cell research. There are many stories surrounding the research being done with stem cells. In his article “Who but a Fiend Would Cross Pigs With Men?,” Ian Hunter shows his discontent for the stem cell research methods (Hunter, 2002). He covers a procedure where doctors implanted the stem cells of a human into the egg cells of a pig, and they started to divide within the pig. The scientists terminated the embryos before they could grow very large, but this “study” is way over the line. For no reason should we try to defy the course of nature beyond what is necessary to aid humans survival, such as using antibiotics, and other remedies, but we should not try to create men from animals. His is one reason why stem cells should be at least regulated if not banned. Experiments like this if unchecked could lead to horrible creations from...
Throughout his life, Socrates engaged in critical thinking as a means to uncover the standards of holiness, all the while teaching his apprentices the importance of continual inquiry in accordance with obeying the laws. Socrates primarily focuses on defining that which is holy in The Euthyphro – a critical discussion that acts as a springboard for his philosophical defense of the importance of lifelong curiosity that leads to public inquiry in The Apology. Socrates continues his quest for enlightenment in The Crito, wherein he attempts to explain that while inquiry is necessary, public curiosity has its lawful price, thus those who inquire must both continue to do so and accept the lawful consequences of their inquiry. Each of the above values, holiness, inquiry, and just lawful obedience, interlock under what Socrates describes in The Republic as, “the very cause of knowledge and truth, [it is also] the chief objective in the pursuit of knowledge,” (Sterling & Scott 198) – the good. The good embodies each Socratic pursuit: it acts as an umbrella for all things perceived in what Socrates names, “the intelligible sector,” (Sterling & Scott 199).
Picture a young couple in a waiting room looking through a catalogue together. This catalogue is a little different from what you might expect. In this catalogue, specific traits for babies are being sold to couples to help them create the "perfect baby." This may seem like a bizarre scenario, but it may not be too far off in the future. Designing babies using genetic enhancement is an issue that is gaining more and more attention in the news. This controversial issue, once thought to be only possible in the realm of science-fiction, is causing people to discuss the moral issues surrounding genetic enhancement and germ line engineering. Though genetic research can prove beneficial to learning how to prevent hereditary diseases, the genetic enhancement of human embryos is unethical when used to create "designer babies" with enhanced appearance, athletic ability, and intelligence.
In recent years, the development of cloning technology in non-human species has led to new ways of producing medicine and improving our understanding of development and genetics. But what exactly is human reproductive cloning and how has this technology been developed? The term “cloning” refers more specifically to a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. In this process, the DNA from the cell of ...
Numerous students, school organizations such as fraternities and sororities, upper level students and other people around campus condone it. This places immense pressure on the incoming freshmen to fit in and may lead them to party more and focus on their academic studies less. Virtually all college students are affected by drinking, whether directly or indirectly. Even if the student doesn’t drink; noisy dorm hallways or a roommate who has had too much to drink can keep them up. The problem with college drinking is not necessarily the drinking itself, but the negative consequences that result from excessive drinking.
Binge or excessive drinking is the most serious problem affecting social life, health, and education on college campuses today. Binge or excessive drinking by college students has become a social phenomena in which college students do not acknowledge the health risks that are involved with their excessive drinking habits. Furthermore college students do not know enough about alcohol in general and what exactly it does to the body or they do not pay attention to the information given to them. There needs to be a complete saturation on the campus and surrounding areas, including businesses and the media, expressing how excessive drinking is not attractive and not socially accepted.
John A. Robertson’s article “Human Cloning and the Challenge of Regulation” raises three important reasons on why there shouldn’t be a ban on Human Cloning but that it should be regulated. Couples who are infertile might choose to clone one of the partners instead of using sperm, eggs, or embryo’s from anonymous donors. In conventional in vitro fertilization, doctors attempt to start with many ova, fertilize each with sperm and implant all of them in the woman's womb in the hope that one will result in pregnancy. (Robertson) But some women can only supply a single egg. Through the use of embryo cloning, that egg might be divisible into, say 8 zygotes for implanting. The chance of those women becoming pregnant would be much greater. (Kassirer) Secondly, it would benefit a couple at high risk of having offspring with a genetic disease choose weather to risk the birth of an affected child. (Robertson) Parents who are known to be at risk of passing a genetic defect to a child could make use of cloning. A fertilized ovum could be cloned, and the duplicate tested for the disease or disorder. If the clone were free of genetic defects, then the other clone would be as well. Then this could be implanted in the woman and allowed to mature to term. (Heyd) Thirdly, it would be used to obtain tissue or organs...
Lauritzen, Paul. Cloning and the Future of Human Embryo Research. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. Google Books. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. source 12 (google books)
Human cloning is also unethical. Cloning, especially therapeutic cloning, requires the use of human embryos. Using these embryos would mean killing unborn children. Therapeutic cloning begins by removing the stem cells from an embryo (Human Cloning). The stem cells are used to grow bone, nerve, and muscle tissue. In the process of therapeutic cloning, an embryo, or a baby in the early stages of development, is taken and parts of it are grown to develop parts of the body including organs and limbs (Human Cloning). Removing these stem cells would kill the embryo. The embryo, which would result in a child if left in the mother’s womb, is separated into parts, which are used for science.