Cloning is the New Trend of the Century

404 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Moral issues on cloning

Cloning is the New Trend of the Century

"Any discovery that touches upon human creation is not simply a matter of scientific inquiry, it is a matter of morality and spirituality as well...Each human life is unique, born of a miracle that reaches beyond laboratory science...". This was printed on March 10, 1997 in Time Magazine in an article dealing with the controversial subject of cloning. Cloning is the production of one or more individual plants or animals that are genetically identical to another plant or animal. Two very different procedures have been referred to as "cloning": Embryo cloning and Adult DNA cloning ("Cloning"). Religious and political affiliations lead the fight against Adult DNA cloning because of the ethical issues involved with this type of technology. Cloning will hinder the development of society into the next millennium.

Cloning creates several controversial issues in society. A major issue associated with cloning is the exponential increase in population each year. By 2024, the projected population of eleven billion, triples the world population today. Scientists already estimate that in 2024 production output by humans must triple in order to provide for eleven billion people and this figure does not include the faction of cloned individuals (Bohart 1). Cloning will increase the population immensely, but this is not the only issue cloning creates in society.

Advancing technology continues to divide society on moral issues. The general public’s opinion on cloning began to split when Kyeonghee University in Korea successfully cloned a human on December 14, 1998 ("Ethical"). Many people believe that the benefits of cloning outweigh the negatives. These benefits come in the form of medical advances like, the use of cloned human embryos in research into genetics and genetically related diseases, and their treatments or preventions ("Ethical"). However, continuing research into cloning will only divide society and begin an uproarious argument involving ethics.

Most scientists admit that large scale cloning depletes genetic diversity. The citizens of the world may eventually end up looking identical to each other. Our society thrives on individuality and diversity. Every person creates their own personality based on their culture and background, eliminating this important aspect of human life hinders progress in society. Cloning also affects emotional relationships greatly. For example, a child born from adult DNA cloning from his father would be, in effect, a delayed twin of one of his parents ("Cloning").

Show More
Related

  • Therapuetic Cloning

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Can Cloning and Christianity Coexist

    3328 Words  | 7 Pages

    McGee, Glenn, (2001). Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning. ActionBioscience.org. Retrieved October 3, 2004, from: http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/mcgee.html

    Read More

  • Clonng: Who's a copycat

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cloning is a real process that scientists use today to reproduce an exact living copy of DNA from the DNA of another living organism. When the idea of cloning first came about in the early 1800’s people believed it to be more science fiction than actual science. People didn’t understand the concept of cloning and therefore was naturally scared of the subject. It is best understood by how the Department of Animal Sciences at Cornell University explains it, “Cloning is a method of producing two or more genetically identical organisms by asexual reproduction. This means that there is only one parent cell, from which all the genetic information will come. Thus, the DNA sequence of cloned organisms is exactly the same as that of the parent cell.” Despite the general population’s disbelief there have been major scientific advances in the cloning process in the last fifty years. After many years of trial and error the first successful clone was created.

    Read More

  • The Injustice Of Cloning In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Morality of Cloning

    1537 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the past, cloning always seemed like a faraway scientific fantasy that could never really happen, but sometimes reality catches up to human ingenuity and people discover that a fictional science is all too real. Such was the fate of cloning when Dolly, a cloned sheep, came into existence during 1997, as Beth Baker explains (Baker 45). In addition to opening the eyes of millions of people, the breakthrough raised many questions about the morality of cloning humans. The greatest moral question is, when considering the pros against the cons, if human cloning is an ethical practice. There are two different types of cloning and both entail completely different processes and both are completely justifiable at the end of the day.

    Read More

  • The United States Law Banning Genetic Cloning of Humans

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    Genetic cloning has become an issue in these past years, and many questions have arisen due to this scientific breakthrough. As with any new technology, ethical and moral ideals have clashed between those who support it and those who favor the opposing side. The dispute involves what to do with our ability to clone and manipulate DNA of human beings, plants, and animals, and whether it is ethical for us to pursue research and experiments with genetics or whether it is people just playing "God". Genetic cloning is a problem because it splits the country and for many of its questionable natures causing people not to trust it. Yes, it is a proven fact that people are scared of what they do not know about, and with genetic cloning, they have a very good reason to be both scared and relieved.

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Cloning

    2127 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...e pressing issue that will question our morals, ethics, and view on human dignity. As a society, we must come to a decision regarding Human Cloning and stand by it, whether it is the right decision or not. Our actions will have a profound impact on the methods of reproduction used by future generations.

    Read More

  • The Science of Cloning

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the essay, Cloning Reality: Brave New World by Wesley J. Smith, a skewed view of the effects of cloning is presented. Wesley feels that cloning will end the perception of human life as sacred and ruin the great diversity that exists today. He feels that cloning may in fact, end human society as we know it, and create a horrible place where humans are simply a resource. I disagree with Wesley because I think that the positive effects of controlled human cloning can greatly improve the quality of life for humans today, and that these benefits far outweigh the potential drawbacks that could occur if cloning was misused.

    Read More

  • The Reality of Cloning

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Scientist clones human embryos, and creates an ethical challenge. New York Times. October 26, 1993: A1.

    Read More

  • Cons Of Cloning

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Human cloning destroys individuality and uniqueness. “What makes people unique is the fact that we have different genes and cloning would lose these important parts of our bodies makeup.” There would be less of a variety of people and everyone would be the same. This would not only be the good qualities, but also the bad that would pass on. Since clones and the original donor will look alike and have the same DNA, it would be nearly impossible to tell the difference. Overtime, they would lose their individuality and uniqueness. For example, say a crime was committed.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Cloning

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, with the development of cloning technology, public have different attitudes towards it. On one hand, serious diseases, like liver cancer, are likely to be cured by transplanting healthy cells and scientists have more access to medical research. It brings hope for infertile families to obtain a baby. On the other hand, it has raised public concerns about security risks due to high failure and malformation rate, and ethical issues about dignity, which are mainly caused by productive cloning. Hence, therapeutic cloning should be enhanced to minimize its potential safety risks in order to be put into clinical application, while reproductive cloning ought to be prohibited worldwide without the agreement on moral issues.

    Read More

  • Reasons to Ban Cloning

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Human Genetic Engineering: Unnatural Selection

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cloning is a process by which genetically equal organisms are created with the same DNA. In simplest terms, clones are like twins born at different times. This procedure poses various dangers to society and humankind. One of the greatest threats this procedure creates is among

    Read More

  • Human Cloning

    1801 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the article that I chose there are two opposing viewpoints on the issue of “Should Human Cloning Ever Be Permitted?” John A. Robertson is an attorney who argues that there are many potential benefits of cloning and that a ban on privately funded cloning research is unjustified and that this type of research should only be regulated. On the flip side of this issue Attorney and medical ethicist George J. Annas argues that cloning devalues people by depriving them of their uniqueness and that a ban should be implemented upon it. Both express valid points and I will critique the articles to better understand their points.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of Human Cloning

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Cloning is the New Trend of the Century

Open Document