"It's a busy morning in the cloning laboratory of the big-city hospital. As always, the list of patients seeking the lab's services is a long one--and, as always, it's a varied one. Over here are the Midwestern parents who have flown in specially to see if the lab can make them an exact copy of their six-year-old daughter, recently found to be suffering from leukemia so aggressive that only a bone marrow transplant can save her. . . . In nine months, the parents, who face the very likely prospect of losing the one daughter they have, could find themselves raising two of her--the second created expressively to keep the first alive" (Kluger p. 67).
This is just one of the many scenarios people are imagining after the successful cloning--manipulating a cell from an animal so that it grows into an exact duplicate of that animal--of the sheep, Dolly. It is not the first time that cloning a mammal has been accomplished; however, it is the first time that a mammal has been cloned from an adult cell, not an embryonic one (Nash). The new cloning technique is raising many questions, the most controversial being the possibility of human cloning. Scientists say that, theoretically, the process used to clone Dolly would work for humans as well (Herbert). However, the cloning of humans should be regulated because of ethical, moral and religious issues.
On March 4, 1997, President Clinton temporarily banned federally funded research for human cloning in the U.S., and gave the National Bioethics Advisory Commission 90 days to report on whether human cloning should be banned or regulated ("Clinton Bans. . ."). In June, the Advisory Commission recommended that Congress impose a five year ban on human cloning (Rosenblatt). President Clinton ...
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...n. "The World After Cloning." U.S. News and World Report . March 10, 1997. pp. 59-63.
Kluger, Jeffrey. "Will We Follow the Sheep?" Time . March 10, 1997. pp. 67-72.
Nash, Madeline. "The Age of Cloning." Time . March 10, 1997. pp. 62-65.
Rosenblatt, Robert A. "Commission Seeks Ban on Human Cloning." [On-line]. Available: http://www.seattletimes.com/sbin/iarecord?NS-search-set=/34750/aaaa003ww75055e&NS-doc-offset=9& Search: Internet Cloning. May 18, 1997.
Woodward, Kenneth L. "Today the Sheep. . ." Newsweek
"Clinton Bans Federal Funding for Human Cloning." [On-line]. Available: http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/special/clone/clone.10.html Search: Internet Cloning. March 4, 1997.
"Clinton Endorses Proposed Ban on Human Cloning." [On-line]. Available: http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/special/clone/clone.24.html Search: Internet Cloning. June 9, 1997.
Censorship is “the restriction or removal of information, or the prevention of free expression” (Taylor 8). There are many things that can be censored such as books, movies, TV shows, newspapers, and the way people dress. People censor things for a number of reasons- they do not agree with it, find it offensive, or think that it is just inappropriate in general. Different people consider different things inappropriate, so the content of what is censored varies. Anyone can censor, including parents, teachers, school officials, and board members (Taylor 8-10) Many things are censored in schools and places where children are present because parents do not want their kids to be exposed to inappropriate content (Taylor 10). Students are entitled to their First Amendment rights just as much as adults are, but schools still censor things like newspapers, books, and clothing.
Issues of censorship in public schools are contests between the exercise of discretion and the exercise of a Constitutional right. The law must reconcile conflicting claims of liberty and authority, as expressed by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 1940 in “Banned in the U.S.A.: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries” by Herbert N. Foerstel (23).
In the coverage of cloning, the media has chosen to represent cloning as a danger to individuality and uniqueness. This concern about losing individuality stems from the status of clones as copies. The March 10, 1997 cover of Time Magazine shows two large identical pictures of sheep and in the background numerous copies of the same picture and the cover title asks, "Will There be Another of You ?". The picture accompanying the main article shows a coin operated machine dispensing white males, while another picture shows identical bodies dropping out of a test tube. Similar images expressing this concern over the loss of individuality brought on by cloning dominate the popular media.
Despite offering many solutions to the ongoing problem of underage drinking, there seems to be no chance for a law to pass that will lower the drinking age. Pete Coors of Coors Brewing Co. ran for senator in the Colorado election and campaigned that he was not pushing to lower the drinking age, however many of his quotes are not consistent with this point of view. No matter what the ultimate decision is for the drinking age, fake IDs and parents who condone drinking are going to cancel out any legitimacy for this law to work. Furthermore there are many drugs in testing now that may perhaps eliminate any of the dangers that are common with drinking. Due to liquor companies targeting teens to make a larger profit, it is inevitable that a younger generation will begin to consume alcohol earlier than with generations before.
Censorship has been a big part of the world’s history and especially America’s history. One of the most quoted amendments to the United States constitution is the first amendment; “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...” This amendment guaranteeing free speech, press, and religion is still heavily debated and contested today. Censorship, as a challenge to free speech and press has been allowed many times and has been heavily debated itself. Many people censor for many different reasons and in many different forms. Censorship itself is not always a bad thing and has in some cases been used for protection of the general population.
Postrel, Virginia. “Should Human Cloning Be Allowed? Yes, Don’t Impede Medical Progress.” In Dynamic Argument. Ed. Robert Lamm and Justin Everett. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. 420-23.
In old times, censorships’ definition was to suppress or restrict any kind of books, articles, journals, art, even speeches and any other forms of expression that were believed to go against religious, political, moral and social beliefs usually held by powerful leading groups, such as governments, businesses and churches. Our society has thankfully evolved since those times and censorship now is used not to prohibit, but to supervise and narrow specific contents that may not be necessary or appropriate to some groups or places, within the guidelines of our law. Censorship in a way is necessary mostly in our schools, not to control and restrict the learning environment, but to make the information and ideas delivered to children more focused on important material that will give them knowledge for their future and shape their personalities and opinions.
Scientist clones human embryos, and creates an ethical challenge. New York Times. October 26, 1993: A1.
Rowan, Carl. "Cloning People is Coming, with Surprising Results." Kentucky New Era 1 Mar. 1997: 13. Print
Currently Congress is debating on a bill on whether or not cloning should be banned outright. If this bill were to pass then the scientific community will have a huge blow dealt against it. Human cloning techniques should not be completely banned because they have the potential of revealing new ways to cure currently incurable diseases and ailments. In the article ?Human Cloning is good for All of Us,? Patrick Stephens writes that ?regulations will delay the availability of medical technologies that cloning and genetic research are bound to bring.? Even though Stephens presents a true possibility he only sees one side of the argument and fails to examine what unchecked cloning could result in.
When regulating the content that someone sees or hears, it is the sole responsibility of the individual to block harmful or offensive content from themselves or their children. In an article by Dan Gutman, a children’s book author, he states that if a piece of literature is banned from a school library, it is not only blocke...
Simmons, John S., and Eliza T. Dresang. School Censorship in the 21st Century: a Guide for Teachers and School Library Media Specialists. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2001. Print.
...elevision censorship is a very controversial issue in the United States because some parents feel that the government should enforce censors and others believe that it is the parents responsibility to censor their children and control their access to the media.
Savage, David. "3 to 5 Year Ban on Any Human Cloning Is Urged." The Los Angeles Times June 8, 1997.
"Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry." The President's Council on Bioethics Washington, D.C. N.p., July-Aug. 2002. Web.