The Ethics of Cloning

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Recommended: Should human reproductive and therapeutic cloning be illegal

Imagine living in a society where performing a certain process, a perfect genetically identical copy of a biological entity could be produced (Cloning Fact Sheet, 1). This process is called cloning, and essentially it takes from one’s own genetic makeup to produce an exact replica. These exact replicas, known as clones, can benefit our society in many different ways; however, these benefits are not without great controversy and concerns. Proponents of cloning suggest that through cloning, humans can experience a greater quality of life with fewer health concerns including hunger and reproduction. Cloning consist of three different types. Gene, Reproductive, and Therapeutic cloning are equally valuable in their own rights (Cloning Fact Sheet, 1). Depending on the purpose for the clone, any of these three types of cloning methods can produce the same intended outcome.

Those who are opposed to cloning base their concerns on ethical, social, and religious viewpoints. Opponents raise the question for the value of humanism and the uniqueness of a clone. In the cloning aspect, opponents question man’s intent to exert their power to produce something so unnatural compared to a higher power’s plan for creation. On February 24, 1997, man expressed his power by successfully creating the first cloned adult mammal, and she became known worldwide as Dolly (McCuen, 10). Dolly became the gateway for many new discoveries to come as the thought of cloning humans began to surface publicly. In the human body there are 31,000 genes organized in 46 chromosomes (Wong, 3). Within these 31,000 genes, scientists claim that only one gene is needed to replicate a desired and intended purpose when cloning a human being. With this claim, human cloning is wit...

... middle of paper ...

...s may become an ordinary practice in the near future and have its place in history, it may never truly be considered a victory for humanity.

Works Cited

Caulfield, Timothy. “Human Cloning Laws, Human Dignity and the

Poverty of the Policy Making Dialogue.” BMC Medical Ethics

4 (2003): 1-10.

“Cloning Fact Sheet”. National Human Genome Research Institute.

(2011): 1-4.

Klotzko, Arlene. A Clone of Your Own. Cambridge, New York:

Cambridge University Press, 2006.

McCuen, Gary. Cloning Science & Society. Hudson, Wisconsin: Gary

E. McCuen Publications Inc., 1998.

Sweat, Rebecca.”Dolly: Send in the Clones”. Vision News Summer

Issue (2000): 1-2.

“Therapeutic Cloning vs. Reproductive Cloning”. www.pregnancy-

info.net 2011. 4 May. 2011.

Wong, Dominic. The ABCs of Gene Cloning. New York, New York:

Spring Science & Business Media Inc., 2006.

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