Missing Appendix
The Debate of Human Cloning
Human cloning has become a hot topic for debate. As we progressed one step closer to successfully cloning and developing a human being, legislators and the general public have become more concerned about the ethical and moral implications of this procedure. The federal government has been unsuccessful in reaching an agreement as to what policy to pass and enact. Thus, any current legislation on human cloning has been developed and enforced by individual states. The state of California is one of the few states in the United States that has a policy on human cloning. Human cloning is banned in the state of California.
Because current policy does not allow for any human cloning to take place, many research projects have come to a standstill. Scientists have still been able to carry out certain cloning procedures that may not be viewed as ethical by the general public as a result of loopholes in current legislation. It is recommended that the current policy in place be revised to eliminate these loopholes and rewritten to permit human cloning to take place to generate the tissue and cells needed for therapeutic development and research to take place. The ban on human cloning should only apply when the procedure is used for reproductive purposes because current research has shown that it is not safe to use in humans at this time(Appendix A.1).
With proper restrictions and guidelines in place, society stands to gain many benefits through permitting human cloning for the purpose of research. DRAFT April 17, 1999 M E M O R A N D U M TO: California State Legislators and Governor Gray Davis DATE: April 17, 1999 SUBJECT: Recommendation that the state of California continues its ban on human cloning but revise the current policy to permit human cloning for research. BACKGROUND On July 5, 1996, researchers in Scotland made history when they announced the birth of Dolly, the world’s first successful cloning of a sheep (Appendix A.1). The world was shocked. The ability to reproduce human beings without sexual reproduction was no longer only an idea to be explored in sci-fi movies and books. After over forty years of research and development, human cloning is quickly becoming a reality.
The basic technique used to clone humans and animals, somatic-cell nuclear transfer, involves the insertion of DNA from a soma...
... middle of paper ...
...MA. 1997;278: 13-14. 11) http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html 12) Wise, Jacqui. “Bills on Human Cloning Are Full of Loopholes.” British Medical Journal. 1998;316: 573. 13) http://www.usfca.edu/cloning/ 14) http://www.humancloning.org/ 15) Mayor, Susan.
“UK Authorities Recommend Human Cloning for Therapeutic Research.” British Medical Journal. 1998;317: 1613. 16) Furrow, Barry, et al. Health Law: Cases, Materials and Problems. St.
Paul: West Group, 1997, p.894. 17) Bower, Hilary. “Public Consultation on Human Cloning Launched.” British Medical Journal. 1998;316: 411.
18) http://www.seattletimes.com/health-science/html98/clon_012098.html 19) Benatar, D. “Cloning and Ethics.” QJM. 1998;91: 165-166. 20) Josefson, Deborah.
“US Scientist Plans Human Cloning Clinic.” British Medical Journal. 1998;316: 167. 21) Furrow, Barry, et al. Health Law: Cases, Materials and Problems. St.
Paul: West Group, 1997, p. 415. 22) Furrow, Barry, et al. Health Law: Cases, Materials and Problems. St.
Paul: West Group, 1997, p. 248. 23) http://www.ebglaw.com/newsstand/cloning.html 24) Furrow, Barry, et al. Health Law: Cases, Materials and Problems. St. Paul: West Group, 1997, p.435.
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.
Kass, Leon, and James Q. Wilson, eds. The ethics of human cloning. American Enterprise Institute, 1998.
Brown, Alistair. "Therapeutic Cloning: The Ethical Road To Regulation Part I: Arguments For And Against & Regulations." Human Reproduction & Genetic Ethics 15.2 (2009): 75-86. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
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
“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.
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.
Brannigan, C. Michael. Ethical Issues in Human Cloning. New York: Seven Bridges Press, Chatham House Publishers, 2001.
Scientist clones human embryos, and creates an ethical challenge. New York Times. October 26, 1993: A1.
For years, the prospect of human cloning was fodder for outrageous science-fiction stories and nothing more. However, in more recent times, human cloning has moved significantly closer to becoming a reality. Accordingly, the issue has evoked a number of strong reactions, both praising and condemning the procedure. The fact that human cloning not just affects human lives indirectly but actually involves tinkering with human creation has forced human cloning into a position of controversy. The progress of the issue of human cloning, then, has been shaped not only by the abilities and resources of scientists but by public opinion and by governmental regulation that has resulted from public pressure.
In earlier times the subject of cloning human beings has been no more than just a fantastic idea to play around with in science-fiction books and movies. As time progresses though, more and more fantasies become realities. Such is the case with cloning. What has only been dreamt up before by artists on pen and paper can now be performed by scientists in laboratories. With the ability to clone humans now possible the question of whether such an act should even be carried out is raised. How far should cloning be allowed to go if it should even be allowed at all? The answer is that cloning should be allowed, but only in moderation.
Cloning has become a major issue in our modern world, from moral, ethical, and religious concerns, to the problem of financial and government support. Human cloning is one of the most controversial topics, and because of this, many of the new important discoveries and beneficial technologies have been overlooked and ignored. Reproductive cloning technology may offer many new possibilities, including hope for endangered species, resources for human organ transplants, and answers to questions concerning cancer, inherited diseases, and aging. The research that led up to the ability to clone mammals started more than a century ago. From frogs to mice to sheep to humans, reproductive cloning promises many possibilities.
National Bioethics Advisory Commision. "The Risks of Human Cloning Outweigh the Benefits." Biomedical Ethics Opposing Viewpoints. Ed. Tamara L. Roleff. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1998. 23-35. Print.
1) Robertson, John A. “Human Cloning and the Challenge of Regulation,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 339, no. 2 (July 9, 1998), pp. 119-122.
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...