Advantages of Cloning in Humans and Animals
Cloning has existed for ages as a form of reproduction in nature. Now humans have harnessed the power to clone at will. This evokes an argument between those that support and those that do not support cloning. Among the population, there are fewer supporters than opponents. It might just be a gut reaction of humans to fear and suspect new technology, or it could be a well-founded fear. In the animal world, cloning could be used to save endangered species and increase production of livestock. In time, this relatively new technology may become a powerful and useful tool This study examines the many supporting arguments for cloning, including objectives, among them starting families, organ transplants, and medical research.
The creation of Dolly revolutionized the scientific world and sparked a flaming debate of what might one day become reality. Humans now had the power to intentionally create what is essentially a copy of another organism. One day humans might also be able to create a copy of other humans as well. The question that loomed over our heads since then is whether human cloning is ethical. Furthermore, would the cloning of larger, more complex animals such as livestock and pets be ethical? Supporters of this cutting edge technology often found, and still find themselves outnumbered by those who strongly oppose cloning. The minority is by no means wrong; their arguments are just as well grounded as their opponents’, sometimes better. Likewise, the other side is also well reasoned. Cloning has many assets, despite obvious faults. It is prudent to investigate the affirmative arguments for cloning rather than just looking at faults.
Cloning would be beneficial to help start fa...
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... may abuse cloning; they must prove that the process of cloning itself is immoral. For reasons stated above, cloning does not appear morally wrong: clones occur naturally, and there are many benefits to cloning. (Worthy)
At the moment, the success rate of cloning is low, and the risk of potential harm to a cloned fetus is too high for comfort. As the technology continues to progress, cloning advocates may ultimately rejoice as human cloning ceases to be science fiction.
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References
Emig, R., et al. (1998, April). Practical Uses of Human Cloning. Human Cloning. July 27, 2005:
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~jones/tmp352/projects98/group1/home.html
McGee, G., et al. (2000). The Human Cloning Debate. Berkeley: Berkeley Hills Books.
Worthy, F. The Cloning Debate. Christis. July 28, 2005:
http://www.christis.org.uk/archive/issue70/cloning.php
Kevin T. Fitzgerald divided potential scenarios for using cloning technology into three categories: "Producing a clone in order to save the life of an individual who requires a transplant; making available another reproductive option for people who wish to have genetically related children, but face physical or chr...
Children grow up watching movies such as Star Wars as well as Gattaca that contain the idea of cloning which usually depicts that society is on the brink of war or something awful is in the midsts but, with todays technology the sci-fi nature of cloning is actually possible. The science of cloning obligates the scientific community to boil the subject down into the basic category of morality pertaining towards cloning both humans as well as animals. While therapeutic cloning does have its moral disagreements towards the use of using the stem cells of humans to medically benefit those with “incomplete” sets of DNA, the benefits of therapeutic cloning outweigh the disagreements indubitably due to the fact that it extends the quality of life for humans.
McGee, Glenn, (2001). Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning. ActionBioscience.org. Retrieved October 3, 2004, from: http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/mcgee.html
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 to clone humans. Even though technology is constantly advancing, it is not reasonable to believe that human cloning is morally and ethically correct, due to the killing of human embryos, the unsafe process of cloning, and the resulting consequences of having deformed clones.
Conclusion: “Therefore, in most Human Cloning cases it is morally wrong for that person to get an experimenter to create a Human Clone on their behalf”.
“Cloning represents a very clear, powerful, and immediate example in which we are in danger of turning procreation into manufacture.” (Kass) The concept of cloning continues to evoke debate, raising extensive ethical and moral controversy. As humans delve into the fields of science and technology, cloning, although once considered infeasible, could now become a reality. Although many see this advancement as the perfect solution to our modern dilemmas, from offering a potential cure for cancer, AIDS, and other irremediable diseases, its effects are easily forgotten. Cloning, especially when concerning humans, is not the direction we must pursue in enhancing our lives. It is impossible for us to predict its effects, it exhausts monetary funds, and it harshly abases humanity.
Long after Shelley wrote her classic masterpiece Frankenstein and Huxley wrote Brave New World, the ethical controversy of cloning conflicts with modern artificial intelligence research. The question that challenges the idea of negative or positive behavior in a replicated machine relies on its similarity to the source of the clone, whether it emulates human behavior or acts as a “superintelligence” with supernatural characteristics void of human error. Humanity will not know the absolute answers concerning behavioral outcome without creating a physical being, an idea portrayed in Shelley’s Frankenstein in which the creation of a monster emulates from his creator’s attempts to generate life. At the time of the novel’s publication, the idea of replicating a soul portrayed a nightmarish theme with little consideration for the potential scientific advancements to facilitate in reality. It lead the genetic idea of manmade intelligence and its ethics emerging from the relativity of space, time, and original life on the planet. The debate of the existing possibility of sentient machines continues to progress, but the consideration of ethical questions such as “Should we create these artificial people?” and “How does this enactment define the soul and mind?” warranted from primitive questions about machine learning within the last century. After the initial proof of possibility for sentient machines, the perfection of cloning will generate “good” behavior at its perfect state several generations from now. The perfect machine portrays the potential for sensible human behaviors including compassion, mentality, empathy, alertness, and love. Humanity of the twenty-first century possesses the knowledge to fantasize the idea of artificial ...
successful clones often have problems with their body and are subject to a short lifespan ridden with health problems. This hurts the person or animal cloned rather than to help them, making cloning an immoral
In conclusion, it is clear to see that cloning is not the taboo it has been made out to be. It is a new boundary that humanity has never encountered before and so it is understandable that people have qualms about ‘playing God’ by shaping a life. Although some might argue that it is immoral to clone human beings, the truth is that it is unethical not to. Given that such technology has the potential to save millions upon millions of lives, not tapping into that industry would have dire consequences on the future. In this case, the ends more certainly justify the means.
Perhaps cloning is not the answer and our society should leave reproduction up to the natural ways. But then one must ask themselves the question of 'why not'. Is there some horrible outcome that will back fire due to the aberrant ways of creating a child? Is bring...
Another argument pertains to the reliability of cloning. Cloning experts have claimed it is, in fact, an effective procedure. Scientists have admitted it is risky, but also have argued that with time, and more experimentation, cloning will become extremely reliable and effective. However, facts are not as supportive towards this claim as scientists may want. Currently only 3 out of 71 cloning eggs have lived, and only 1 out of 278 fully developed clones have survived from those eggs.
...cloning can be divided into two broad category: potential safety risk and moral problems, and these concerns overweigh its achievement.
Cloning is defined as the process of asexually producing a group of cells, all genetically identical, from a single ancestor (College Library, 2006).” Cloning should be banned all around the world for many reasons, including the risks to the thing that is being cloned, cloning reduces genetic differences and finally it is not ethical. Almost every clone has mysteriously died even before they are born.
4) Kassirer JP, “Should human cloning be off limits?” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 338, no. 2 (June 1998), pp. 905-906
In recent years, many new breakthroughs in the areas of science and technology have been discovered. A lot of these discoveries have been beneficial to scientific community and to the people of the world. One of the newest breakthroughs is the ability to clone. Ever since Ian Wilmut and his co-workers completed the successful cloning of an adult sheep named Dolly, there has been an ongoing debate on whether it is right or wrong to continue the research of cloning (Burley). Recently, in February 2001, CNN conducted a poll that stated, 90% of American adults think that cloning humans is a bad idea (Robinson). Even though the majority of Americans are opposed to human cloning, there are many benefits that will come from the research of it. Advancements in the medical field and in the fertility process will arise from human cloning. These advancements make cloning very beneficial to the human society.