Cloning 5 Essay, Research Paper
Cloning
Is cloning ethical? the majority of the world would say no but the medical research
possibilities associated with it are endless. In 1997 when Dolly the lamb was born we
began to think, wow if it s possible toclone an animal why not a human in the future? It
soon became known that it was possible and people were horrified at the thought of an
organism being created by a human being.
90% of Americans polled within the first week that the Dolly news broke, thought
that cloning should be banned. They believed it to be morally inappropriate and ethically
wrong (Torr 24).
The reason for the terror was due largely in part by public misconception by lay
people. It is best to think of a clone as a later born identical twin. They will be
indistinguishable in biology from any other human being.
Many people believe that clones will be used as spare parts for the rich in need of a
liver or some other organ. There are also beliefs that these clones will be headless as
well as be killed without committing murder. In reality using another human for spare
parts would be murder and making headless clones would also be murder. To make a
headless clone would require removing the higher brain of the fetus of infant and since
both of these beings fall under the same legal laws as a non-cloned fetus or infant it would
again be murder. Besides the point there is no need to create an entire human when
individual tissues and organs can be grown alone (Torr 68).
Some fear psychological damage of a cloned human. A person is not defined by
their genetic but by their life experiences and development in the womb. Environment and
upbringing play a much larger role in shaping someone s emotions and outlook.
The argument that man is playing god is the most commonly brought up. If god
didn t want man to create clones he wouldn t have made it possible. Cloning does not
create life it merely produces life from existing life. Public policy should not be based on
one narrow religious point of view (Kolata 36).
One is the possibility of birth defects. I will compare the development of
cloning to introducing a new miracle drug into the market. The safety of the drug is
initially unknown like cloning. Then come the experiments on animals first, this has
already been done. Then the experiments are done on human volunteers. Safety would be
determined
should be used as standard medical practice (Torr 74).
The process for cloning Dolly was as follows: The nucleus is removed from an
oocyte or non fertilised egg, collected from a Scottish blackface ewe. A nucleus form a
quiescent mammory cell is injected into the oocyte. A quiescent cell is one that has
stopped dividing in the cell cycle. Then a tiny pulse of electricity was used to fuse the
two nuclei. in the cytoplasm. This fused cell was transferred into the reproductive
chamber of a blackface ewe. The proceess had to be repeated 276 time before they could
get one that would actually work.The process would require removing a somatic cell as
opposed to a reproductive cell. the nucleus would be romved from the cell and trasferred
to an enucleated egg. Currently this isn t possible because the somatic cells are
specialized cells and we don t know how to turn genes on and off (Bohle 35).
Human cloning research would enable scientists to determine the cause of
spontaneus abortions and give oncologist an understanding of the rapid cell growth of
cancer.Cloning could lead to the development in genetics to create animal organs that
could be easily accepted by humans offering a limitless supply to those in need. Pigs are
being tested as the most likely source for this experiment. using human cloning cells
could be cloned and regenerated to replace damaged sections of the body. Stem cells
could also be grown to regenerate damaged nerve tissues or muscle tissues. This process
could help out muscular diseases like muscular sclorosis. Why not usee cloning as another
way of helping infertile parents or those who have gentic disorders? The agricultural
industry can benefit from this as well. Farmers can use nuclear transfer to produce better
livestock. Scientists can genetically alter adult cells, making it wasier to alter genetic
material. These transgenic livestock would help farmers reach their goal of producing
ideal characteristics for the agricultural industry (Bohle 49).
.It is obvious the medical possibilities of cloning far outweigh the cons and our fear
is based on ignorance much like when Columbus proclaimed the world was round. As
new scientific development is introduced into the public we will gradually accept it at a
very slow rate. The medical possibilities are endless. Cloning is ethical as long as it s
regulated.