The Ethics of Cloning
Regardless of what our future holds, it will be based on the decisions we make today. Those decisions can be made using the Utilitarian Theory which states that we are doing good for the greatest number of people. Using Rule Utilitarianism "which maintains that a behavioral code or rule is morally right if the consequences of adopting that rule are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. (IEP)" is justifably noted that if a consensus is formed on the basis of rules that govern cloning, and these rules are broken, the appropriate punishment will result. This is because cloning a human will not benefit the society as a whole, it would do more harm than good. We all have rules that govern our society over what is right or wrong and we know that these rules are set forth to maintain order. We have laws because it benefits the majority of the people.
Principles of Consequences state that when looking at the end result, the correct action will be the action that produces the greatest amount of happiness (Ursery). To decide if human cloning produces the greatest amount of happiness we have one question still in need of an answer is "Are human embryos really human?" Well, the term 'human' proceeding the term 'embryo' should adequately answer the question. The embryo are cloned from human tissue, contain human DNA, thus there is likely a 100 percent chance that the embryos are indeed human, as opposed to being tadpole embryos. Therefore, biologically speaking a clone is no less a human than you or I. And using that human for tissue simply because he/she was cloned rather than conceived does not validate the notion, nor skip around the moral and ethical implications of taking the life of another human being. Death is not a happy occasion therefore it does not produce the greatest amount of happines to the majority of the popluation.
The bad consequences out way the good, therefore we cannot assume that the benefit of human cloning will solve life's problems. To this day we have yet to find a cure for the common cold. This is because most diseases have a way of surviving, as did the human race during the ice age. Everything finds a way to adapt to it's environment and if the benefits major benefit for cloning is to cure diseases, then we are at a loss. The fight for life "survival of the fittest" can sum it up. If we result to cloning as a means for reproduction, then who is to say that our bodies might not adapt to this, only allowing for this type of reproduction? Only then will we realize that in our effort to gain knowledge and power over every other living thing, did we fail. Everything on this earth has to be in perfect balance, and when we continue to tamper with Mother Nature, she finds a way to fight back. For example, the ozone layer is being depleted because of chemical agents produced and released into the atmosphere by man. As a result, the ozone layer can longer protect our skin as it used too, causing more cases of skin cancer every year. I believe that if you push someone, or in this case, something (Mother Nature) hard enough, she will push back. We need to take things as they are given to us, the good and the bad. When we try to beat the odd, sometimes the odds beat us.
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