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The news about the successful cloning of an adult sheep, in which the sheep's DNA was inserted into a fertilized sheep egg to produce a lamb with identical DNA, has generated an outpouring of ethical concerns. These concerns are not about Dolly, the first cloned mammal, nor even about the considerable impact cloning may have on the animal breeding industry. Theyre about the possibility of cloning humans. For the most part, however, the ethical concerns being raised are exaggerated and misplaced.
This is because people have erroneous views of what cloning is. The danger, therefore, lies not in the power of the technology, but in the managing of its techniques and the problems this may arise. Cloning is the production of one or more individual plants or animals that are genetically identical to another plant or animal. There exist two very different types pf procedures that have been referred to as cloning: Embryo cloning and adult DNA cloning.
Embryo cloning has been successfully carried out for many years on many species of animals. The first ones on being cloned were frogs in the 1970 s (Cloning processes despite controversy). Although they have progressed significantly. This procedure involves the removal of one or more cells from embryo, and encouraging the cell to develop into a separate embryo with the same DNA as the original. Some limited experimentation has been done on human embryos.
On human conceptions, in one out of 75, the fertilized ovum splits for some unknown reason and produces mon zygotic (identical) twins. Each has a genetic makeup identical to he other. In cloning this same operation is done intentionally in a laboratory (Dr. Patrick Nixon). Producing a clone of a human being would not be like creating a carbon copy.
It would be more like producing an identical twin. Moreover, just as identical twins are two separate people, biologically, psychologically, morally and legally, though not genetically, so a clone is, a separate person from his or her contemporaneous twin. To think otherwise is to embrace a belief in genetic determinism the view that, genes determine everything about us, and that environment factors or the random events in human development are utterly insignificant. The overwhelming consensus among geneticists is that, genetic determinism is false. Furthermore, because of the extra steps involved, cloning will probably always be riskier-than is, less likely to result in a live birth-than in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer. (It took more than 275 attempts before the researchers were able to obtain successful sheep clone.
While cloning methods may improve, we should note that even standard IVF techniques typically have a success rate of less than 20 %). Therefore why would anyone go to the trouble of cloning? There are of course, a few reasons people might go to the trouble, and so its worth pondering what they think might accomplish, and what sort of ethical concerns they might arise. Consider the hypothetical example of the couple that wants to replace a child who has died. Ian Wilmot, the scientists who cloned Dolly said that, Human cloning is not necessarily needed because all the work can be confined to laboratory experiments. He also points out People are so misguided by the idea of bringing somebody back (Scientist: Human cloning need not to be done).
However, the unavoidable truth is that they would be producing an entirely different person, a delayed identical twin of that child. Once they understood that, it is unlikely, so they would persists. Another disturbing possibility is, the person who wants to a clone in order to have acceptable spare parts in case he or she needs an organ transplant later in life. However, regardless of the reason that someone has clone produced, the result would nevertheless be a human being with all the rights and protections that accompany that status. For this purpose, it would be better just to clone or produce the organs, than cloning a human. It truly would be a disaster if the results of human cloning were seeing as less than fully human.
There is certainly no moral justification for and little social danger of that happening; after all, we do not accord lesser status to children who have been created through IVF or embryo transfer. If there were significant interest in applying this technology to human beings, it would indicate a failure to educate people that genetic determination is profoundly mistaken. Under those circumstances as well, however, a ban on human cloning would not only be ineffective, also most likely counterproductive. Ineffective because as others have pointed out, the technology does not seem to require sophisticated and highly visible laboratory facilities. Cloning could go underground.
Counterproductive because a ban might encourage people to believe there is a scientific basis for some of the popular fears associated with human cloning that is something genetic determinism after all. (Michael Y. Shao). There is a consensus among both genetics and those writing on ethical, legal and social aspects of genetic research, that genetic trait in not only false, but pernicious. It invokes memories of prosaic racist and eugenics premised on the belief that what we value in people members of our society now abstain from racial discrimination, our culture still assumes that genes contain a persons destiny (Ethics on Human Cloning). It would be unfortunate if, by reassure cloning as a terribly dangerous technology, we encouraged this cultural myth, even as we intrude on the board freedom our society grants people regarding reproduction. Another issue regarding human cloning is the religious view.
Most of the people think that a human clone would not have a soul. Logically this is because it has been produced in a laboratory instead of being created by God in his or her mothers womb. The Angelical view about cloning is that, they think therapeutic cloning (organ transplants) would be more ethical and even it would please God (Analogical View on Human Cloning). They think this based on the scriptures, because in the Bible says: Heal the sick. Embryo cloning seems to them as a sinful procedure because God must create every creature, not by a bunch of chemical and biological reactions taking place in a laboratory. Pope Jean Paul II refers to human cloning as immoral.
Vatican says that such procedures are immoral and running against the law and justice (ARCHBISHOP Condemns Embryo Research). In a recent poll made to 1. 005 Americans, 75 % of them said that human cloning was against Gods will; an only 19 % taught the opposite thing (Most Americans say Cloning is Wrong). I do not like to dismiss the ethical people have risen regarding the board range of assisted reproductive technologies. Nevertheless, we should acknowledge that those concerns would not be resolved by any determination we make regarding the specific acceptability for cloning. We do not understand it nor can handle all of its effects. Maybe in the future, we will be ready to clone, but that time has not arrived yet.
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Research essay sample on Embryo Cloning Genetic Determinism
