Should We Clone Organs?

575 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What are the ethical implications of gene therapy

In recent decades, questions about genetic engineering, genetic modification, and cloning of animals and humans are on the minds of many. On February 27, 1997 when Dr. Ian Wilmut and his team sent chills down our spine with the announcement of the first successfully cloned sheep Dolly. At this time the reality of animal cloning stared us in the face while the human cloning was just around the corner.

Have you ever imagined what life would be like if we could eliminate human problems? This is the question that arises when the issue of human cloning or human cloning of the organs is brought up. Cloning is the process where organisms, cells, or microorganisms are copied to produce an almost identical genotype. In other words, the cloning process involves taking a cell from the tissue of a live animal or human, inserting all or some of the genes from that cell into an embryo, which is then placed in the womb of a living creature. There, this embryo is hoped to reproduce into a child, and be born as a clone of the living being from which the cell is taken. Cloning is also called "somatic cell nuclear transfer," it is the transfer of a nucleus of a somatic cell to an egg that has had its nucleus removed. Cloning is beneficial to humanity, and it can help solve organ limitations, cure diseases, and take a giant step toward immortality (Anderson, 60).

One of the greatest problems in medicine today is that many people need organs for various reasons, which are not available, and lead to a lot of unnecessary deaths. There are not enough organs to supply the need in demand. In 1997 "2,300 of 40,000 Americans" that needed a heart transplant got one; that means that nearly 94% did not receive one (Fox). I know from having heart problems myself, that if I would need to have a heart transplant sometime in the near future to stay alive that I would definitely want a cloned heart if nothing else was possible and I was able to receive one. Why, you might ask? Because I have not had a chance to live my life, and there are many other things I would like to experience, such as celebrating my twenty-first birthday, getting married, and having a family. But if we cloned human organs we would eliminate a major killer to the human race, and provide patients worldwide with a healthy cloned organ.

Show More
Related

  • Genetic Engineering and Cryonic Freezing: A Modern Frankenstein?

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Therapuetic Cloning

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    Understanding the facts as well as procedures between the many different types of cloning is very crucial. When everything boils down there are three types of cloning known as DNA cloning, therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. DNA cloning is the copying of a gene in order to transfer it into another organism which is usually used by farmers in most of their crops. Therapeutic cloning is the use of stem cells used to help take the place of whatever cell is missing which is potentially used to help the ill. Stem cells contain the potential to grow and help replace the genes that are missing in order to fix whatever is genetically wrong with your body or any genes that you may be missing. Reproductive cloning actually produces a living animal from only one parent. The endless possibilities and perhaps hidden motives of using genetic engineering are what divide as well as destroy the scientific community’s hope for passing laws that are towards pro cloning. Many people within soci...

    Read More

  • Cloning - It’s Time for Organ Farms

    1444 Words  | 3 Pages

    Currently 70,000 Americans are on the organ waiting list and fewer than 20,000 of these people can hope to have their lives saved by human organ transplantation.1  As a result of this shortage, there has been a tremendous demand for research in alternative methods of organ transplantation.  Private companies are racing to develop these technologies with an estimated market of six billion dollars.2  Xenotransplantation, or cross-species organ transplantation, appears to be the most likely solution in the near future, and cloned pigs are the main candidates.  Pigs and humans have remarkable similarities in physiology, which along with cloning makes pigs strong possibilities for organ donors.  A controversial alternative method involves the use of genetically altered headless human beings as organ donors.  Although this method may not be developed for some years, scientists are already discussing the necessary technologies.  Whether the solution is the cloning of a pig or a human, organ farms may provide us with a solution to our ever-increasing need for donors.

    Read More

  • Kant Cloning Theory

    2573 Words  | 6 Pages

    Cloning is a recent innovative technique the National Institute of Health defines as a process employed to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. Depending on the purpose for the clone, human health or even human life can be improved or designed respectively. “Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is the most common cloning technique. SCNT involves putting the nucleus of a body cell into an egg from which the nucleus has been removed."^1 From this technique, an embryonic cell is activated to produce an animal that is genetically identical to the donor. Today, human cloning still remains as a vision, but because of the success of Dolly, the lamb, researchers are becoming more confident in the ability to produce a genuine

    Read More

  • Leave Human Cloning to Mother Nature

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    A compelling issue that has come into focus in the past several years is the idea of human cloning. Many scientists believe that it is inevitable because the technology is there, and anything that can be done eventually will be done. They preach the value of human clones, dropping phrases like 'cure for disease' and 'prolonged life' to entice the public into supporting their cause. Though these concepts seem beguiling, the notion of human cloning, when looked at as a whole, has serious repercussions and should not be entertained lightly. From a strictly scientific point of view, we are just not ready to attempt the cloning of a human being.

    Read More

  • The Impact of Human Cloning on the Family and Society

    2612 Words  | 6 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Human Cloning Trials

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    Human cloning is the process to produce a duplicate of a human being. It is the exact genetic copy and every single bit of their DNA is identical. If successful, cloning can have a lot of positive technological advancements that would help humanity. Possible benefits would be; replace love ones that have passed away, reproduce humans with special abilities and high intelligence such as Einstein and, regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is the process that would allow cloned organs to be used to replace human’s damaged organs. Splendid as it sounds, not one clone, human nor animal has risen to the challenge without complication whatsoever. As a fairy tale, cloning sounds too good to be true and the failure rate is tremendous. “Your success cannot be 1 or 2 percent. A 2 percent success rate is not ...

    Read More

  • Cloning is Unethical

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    In recent years our world has undergone many changes and advancements, cloning is a primary example of this new modernism. On July 5th, 1995, Dolly, the first cloned animal, was created. She was cloned from a six-year-old sheep, making her cells genetically six years old at her creation. However, scientists were amazed to see Dolly live for another six years, until she died early 2005 from a common lung disease found in sheep. This discovery sparked a curiosity for cloning all over the world, however, mankind must answer a question, should cloning be allowed? To answer this question some issues need to be explored. Is cloning morally correct, is it a reliable way to produce life, and should human experimentation be allowed?

    Read More

  • Reasons to Ban Cloning

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    Last of all, Cloning is not ethical, many religious groups look down upon cloning and think it’s not proper because they think it’s like playing God. Many scientists were mainly thinking about cloning animals and, most likely, humans in the future to harvest their organs and then kill them. “Who would actually like to be harvested and killed for their organs?” “Human cloning exploits human beings for our own self-gratification (Dodson, 2003).” A person paying enough money could get a corrupt scientist to clone anybody they wanted, like movie stars, music stars, athletes, etc (Andrea Castro 2005),” whether it be our desire for new medical treatments or our desire to have children on our own genetic terms (Dodson, 2003).

    Read More

  • Organ Transplant Persuasive Speech

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    What if scientist have already developed a genetically engineered way to prevent most organ transplant deaths and no longer have a waiting list? “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services claims that over 190,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list, with 22 people dying each day waiting for a transplant” {4}.

    Read More

  • My Sister's Keeper

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    What if it is you who is the clone, wouldn't you want the right to live? The right to grow old and have children to truly live. That is what every person roaming the earth has a right to. Imposing another's health issues and obligations on you would be inhumane. If you are told that your original needs your heart, that's is you no longer get to live like everyone else.

    Read More

  • Clones Are Human: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...hat is going to be saved is important, the clones are as important also. People die every day so instead of taking the rights of the people that are alive, it is better to take the right of the ones that are already dead and use their organs to save people. If using dead people’s organ is not enough then we can work on creating artificial organs that will work like the original one because cloning for donation is not an option.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Human Cloning on Medicine

    1768 Words  | 4 Pages

    Recent discoveries involving cloning have sparked ideas of cloning an entire human body (ProQuest Staff). Cloning is “the production of an organism with genetic material identical to that of another organism” (Seidel). Therapeutic cloning is used to repair the body when something isn’t working right, and it involves the production of new cells from a somatic cell (Aldridge). Reproductive cloning involves letting a created embryo develop without interference (Aldridge). Stem cells, if isolated, will continue to divide infinitely (Belval 6). Thoughts of cloning date back to the beginning of the twentieth century (ProQuest Staff). In 1938, a man decided that something more complex than a salamander should be cloned (ProQuest Staff). A sheep named Dolly was cloned from an udder cell in 1997, and this proved that human cloning may be possible (Aldridge). In 1998, two separate organizations decl...

    Read More

  • Cloning Argument Analysis

    248 Words  | 1 Pages

    Scientists claim that these clones are in fact, human. Therefore, these clones would have rights, meaning “normal” humans couldn't take their organs without consent. The university of Utah asks the question “why clone?”, and toward the end of their article, they state, “far-fetched views describe farms filled with clones whose organs are harvested for transplant- a truly horrific idea” (“why clone”). Implying that the idea was nixed as the public would find this evil and would never approve of cloning. Also proving that clones would have rights, as they wouldn’t just be killed off after the transplant. The main idea for cloning is that it could be used for perfect organ transplants. In the article, “Animal Cloning-A Primer in Cloning and

    Read More

  • The Benefits of Human Cloning

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most beneficial aspects to cloning is the ability to duplicate organs. Many patients in hospitals are waiting for transplants and many of them are dying because they are not receiving a needed organ. To solve this problem, scientists have been using embryonic stem cells to produce organs or tissues to repair or replace damaged ones (Human Cloning). Skin for burn victims, brain cells for the brain damaged, hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys can all be produced. By combining the technology of stem cell research and human cloning, it will be possible to produce the needed tissues and organs for patients in desperate need for a transplant (Human Cloning). The waiting list for transplants will become a lot shorter and a lot less people will have to suff...

    Read More

More about Should We Clone Organs?

Open Document