The Cloning War Moral or Immoral
Outside the lab where the cloning had actually taken place, most of us thought it could never happen. Oh we would say that perhaps at some point in the distant future, cloning might become feasible through the use of sophisticated biotechnologies far beyond those available to us now. But what we really believed, deep in our hearts, was that this was one biological feat we could never master.With every revolution, there must be conflict. When the great thinkers of the past decided the earth was round, or that the planets revolved around the sun, their revolution caused excommunication. When Americans rebelled against the mother country, their revolution caused a war. However, if not for the great thinkers, the revolutionists, and the science explorers, everyone would be sailing off the edge of the planet, believing to be scientific fact that Earth was the center of the universe, and America would be under steady oppression from Europe. On February 23, 1997, Doctor Ian Wilmut successfully cloned the world's first mammal, giving the world a harsh wake-up call to the state of its technology. The implications of an effective somatic cell nuclear transfer in mamm
However, fears of this new procedure are certainly well justified. A cloned child, for instance, would lose all sense of individuality, and the potential harm (which first must be downsized to an acceptable degree before full production could commence), at this point, greatly outweighs the beneficial yields (United, 66,65). Plus, given the option to choose features in a prospective clone child, or "designer child", procreating would be more feasibly compared with car shopping than reproduction (Silver, 227). These factors contribute to the controversial issue of morality. A broad subject filled with gray matter, the decision of whether or not something is moral is spawned from religious thought, ethical concerns, and the comparison of the gains of a procedure to the costs. Facts must be gathered from the word of God, from logical reasoning, and from scientific inquiry. When all the data is gathered, the question of morality is answered with a definitively negative response. Cloning is a procedure that is definitely not moral due to its possible harm to child and parents; its religious implications; and its unfavorable ratio of harm to good. "Cloning". Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th edition, volume 3. Chicago, IL. 1997. "Tissue Creation". Scientific American. Scientific American, Inc. Pages 54-55. New York, NY. 1999. Still, many would argue that cloning would not constitute the end of life, but rather the beginning. Of them, many contend that cloning is just another way to bring children to the world. This falls under the pretense of the freedom of reproductive choice. While somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning is certainly a different means of reproduction than sexual, it is, by definition, a way of reproducing. Some claim that cloning is just as moral as in vitro fertilization or adoption. However, critics see it as radically new and more similar to a "manufacturing of humans" than reproduction. For example, its asexual nature leads many to view cloning as distinctly different from reproduction (United, 77). "Ian Wilmut, Dolly's Creator, on the Ethics of Cloning". The American Enterprise. September/October 1998: 57-58. WilsonSelect. FirstSearch. Lake-Sumter Community College Lib., Leesburg, FL. 05 Nov 1999 *http://www.ccla.lib.fl.us/firstsearch*. So are the gains worth the costs? The answer to that question entirely depends on what emphasis one places on ethics and religion. As stated, general religion beliefs disapprove of cloning by means of producing children and standard ethics would not allow cloning to continue without the perfection of a harm-free procedure. Still, the decision will more than likely land in the hands of the consumers (parents) and their merchant (doctor). "The place where a person will most likely be copied is here in the United States," says Dr. Wilmut. "You give great emphasis on the rights of the people to reproduce in the way they want, and you have the money." ("Ian")
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Approximate Word count = 2198
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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