cloning6

A detailed Summary of cloning6

Twenty years from now, as you are walking around the square in Wilkes Barre, you pass someone who looks exactly like you. They have your same brown eyes, round face, light brown hair, short stature, and even the same dimples you possess. Can you imagine the shock and even fright that may accompany such a sighting? The world was bewildered when the news that an adult mammal was produced without any eggs being fertilized with sperm. The results of "Dolly" surprised society and the idea that human cloning was possible created an uproar. Many people disagree with cloning for ethical reasons. Opponents want human cloning banned, saying it would only create problems. On the other hand, scientists say it could have other benefits such as duplicating embryos for in vitro and replacing a dying child (Masci 1). Others argue that human cloning would open doors for treatments of serious diseases.

"Cloning human beings could be beneficial," says Ruth Macklin, a professor of bioethics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City (Masci 2). One way in which cloning could be beneficial in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. Cloning Research may improve IVF, in which an egg is remo

Cloning may also offer new options for couples who are unable to produce children the normal egg-sperm way. If the couple doesn't want to use a surrogate mother or father, cloning gives the option of still having a child. However, the child would be an exact replica of one of the parents. Cloning could bring hope into many couples' lives. Another possible use might involve cloning a son or daughter. This use of cloning could help couples too old to produce their own children. It can also help couples who have lost a child to a murder or kidnapping. Producing a child who is identical to their past might relieve some of the pain.

Lehrer, Jim. Cloning...Multiplicity. 24 February 1997.

Numerous people also disagree with human cloning for religious reasons. Critics believe that science has no business messing with God's method of creation. Munawar Ahmad Anees, a writer for Islamic and Biological Features writes, "the human body is God's property, not man's laboratory" (quoted in Masci 4). Anee's view is shared by both Christians and Jews. Religious scholars believe that God created Adam and Eve for a reason that was not to clone humans, but give birth to them.

All of these examples could be beneficial; however, many scientists still think cloning will cause problems. Wilmut, the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep, feels that social and ethical arguments still outweigh the scientific benefits (Masci 3). Many researchers believe that there are other ways then cloning to find treatments for diseases and to provide strength in transplants. "I can't at the moment honestly see anything in this (cloning) that is going to tell us something about humans that we can't find out in experimentally more acceptable animals like mice and sheep," says Collin Stewart, Director of the Laboratory for Cancer Developmental Biology at the government's Advanced Biosciences Laboratories in Fredrick, Maryland.

Singer, Peter, and, Wells, Deane. 1985. Making Babies. The New Science and Ethics of

Shannon, Thomas A. Ethical Issues in Genetics. Theological Studies Vol. 60 Issue 1 (1999):

University Medical Center, Washington, DC.)

Many of the arguments by people who disagree with cloning point to the lack of data about its effects. Whether it is the lack of humanness, loss of individual identity or uniqueness, or religious reasons, the arguments to ban cloning keep adding up.

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