Cloning 7
The announcement one year ago that Scottish scientists had successfully cloned an adult sheep raised eyebrows all over the world. While scientists generally responded with great enthusiasm, ordinary people as well as theologians and ethicists immediately and prematurely responded with outrage. The problem with cloning is not that it is wrong or unethical, but the fact that the general population has been misinformed and frightened about cloning so much that just the word "clone" has a negative connotation to it. Many think it would be wrong to clone a human, and have slapped labels such as "evil" or "immoral" on human cloning. The source of people's disgust may come from their visions of a science-fiction monster developed in a Frankenstein type of laboratory, a species inferior to us, a world of humans entirely alike (no genetic diversity), or Jurassic Park. The fact is, cloning will not lead to this, and any religious opposition is not firmly based. A clone is basically a time-delayed identical twin of another (Vere 1). Identical twins have the same DNA composition, but different fingerprints, as will clones. Some say the cloning is repugnant or disgusting, yet they don't see identical twins as repugnant
or disgusting (5). If cloning is outlawed and made a crime, who is the victim? Cloned persons shouldn't be the victim just because they were born with the same DNA as another person. Human clones would most likely consider themselves something special, especially when they are the twin of a distinguished individual (5). But there is no guarantee that the clone will be interested in the area that they are expected to, for identical twins often have different interests. Also, identical twins have a 30% chance of being different by intelligence and a 50% chance of being different by personality (3), and these people grow up in the same environment. If a clone is raised in a different environment, as they likely would, these chances of being different would probably be greater. So what is the main problem with cloning? Is it wrong because it is "unnatural", or the artificial status of a person would confer them as less an individual? No. The main problem with cloning is that the public has not been completely informed, so they have jumped to a unjustified conclusion. The general public must first learn the facts about cloning before they rant and rave about what is unethical and what is not. Woods, Micheal. "Biology: A Special Report: Is it Wrong to Clone People?" Cohen, Jon. "Can Cloning Help Save Beleaguered Species?" Science 30 May Many think that cloning is wrong for religious reasons, but there is biblical text that prohibit cloning. These opponents say cloning amounts to playing God. But if one thinks about doct
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Approximate Word count = 1052
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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