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Illegal Beings: Human Clones
a look at cloning
talon5150 ( 04/13/2004, 07:27:49 )The scientific community has added several words to the dictionary cloning being among them. No other word has sparked such moral and ethical debates. The word clone refers to one or more offspring derived from one predecessor. The technology to clone has now become reality. The question that now plagues this generation is to clone or not to clone. Many people don’t know that there are several forms of cloning each with a different process for duplicating a living organism. However no form of cloning creates a full copy of the original Usually when there is a debate on cloning those involved are discussing Therapeutic cloning or reproductive cloning. Reproductive cloning involves a process in which the nucleus of an egg is removed “thus it’s genetic material, has been removed” and replaced with the complete DNA from a adult donor cell. The cell now acts like a fertilized egg because it has the 42 chromosomes and 2 sex chromosomes to make a baby and allowed it to grow. Once this cloned embryo reaches a certain stage it is implanted into a surrogate mother where it will continue to grow until birth.Therapeutic cloning involves the same process as reproductive cloning however rather than implant the fertilized egg, stem cells are taken from it With the propose of producing tissue or even an organ that would be a DNA match to the recipient, thus greatly reducing rejection.The possibly of cloning brings up several ethical and even legal problems. When many people look at cloning they think reproductive cloning would be used to harvest organs from a clone like a supply of spare parts. This is absurd such an act is deplorable and would never be legal, taking a life to save another. This isn’t the only short coming with this theory as I’ve stated above the cloning process doesn’t produce a clone the exact age as the person who’s cell were used to create it. So unless a very young child was in need of a transplant this wouldn’t be a viable solution Opponents of cloning also argue that there psychological issues that are brought up with cloning. A clone could have less of a scene of individuality being a copy of another person however; this can also be said of identical twins. Yet often the only similarities among identical twins is their looks, their personalities are often polar opposites. This would also be the same with clones but they wouldn’t even have another person looking just like them since a clone would be a younger version of the original donor. In addition the clone wouldn’t be raised in the same environment so it would have significantly different experiences thus giving the clone even more divinity from it’s parent who’s DNA it shares. Another question the opposition against cloning brings up is the possibly of cloning horrific figures from history such as Hitler. However to be able to do this a living cell would be needed from that person. Even if Hitler were to be cloned it wouldn’t be the same Hitler, environment plays a part in shaping a person personality.The only argument against cloning that has any merit is that currently it is unsafe. “More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring”, those few to survive the cloning process could die young because cloned animals tend to have compromised immune systems. With such a low successes rate it would be immoral to clone a human at this time. The use of therapeutic cloning for the purpose of creating tissues and organs that are a genetic match to the recipient would drastically reduce the chance of organ rejection by the body’s immune system and reduce the need of organ donation. However, for therapeutic cloning to work an embryo is robbed of its stem cells thus destroying the embryo. Because the embryo is destroyed there are those who “believe that it is immoral to kill one person in order to save or extend the life of another”() but is it really better to let one life die as a result of not using an embryo that odds say will probable never be alive? In a poll conducted on march 6 2003 67% of 1012 Americans favored continuation on this form of cloning. Opinions aside there are still several challenges that need to be overcome before transplanted cloned organs become reality, “More effective technologies for creating human embryos, harvesting stem cell, and producing organs from stem cells would have to be developed.” The benefits cloning can offer are almost limitless. Cloning could give greater insight into how genes work which could result in treatments for genetic diseases. Cloning also been consider away for infertile couples to have a child of their own and cloning would further medical research in several medical fields saving countless lives.Cloning of animals must also be addressed. Cloned test specimen would “eliminate[e] an important potential cause of confusion when scientists test {such} a vaccine or other treatment[s]”(Wolf). This would push medical treatments further and faster, saving lives. Cloning of animals wouldn’t be just limited to medical research. Cloning could and probably will one day be used to clone an exstordnairy animal such as a racehorse allowing the owner to continue with a successful winning recorded. Cloning may also be used to increase the population of endangered species Cloning could also be used on livestock guarantee the quality of meat. Imagine sitting down in a restaurant and being able to order how tender you want your steak along with how well the meats cooked. All those who wish to post arguments against my view on cloning are welcome. Knowledge is gained from such rebuttals and knowledge is what I seek. Also comments on any areas of cloning I failed cover are once again welcome
This Message is being posted for educational purposes, as well as for comment and criticism, by the visitors to the HumanCloning.org Foundation website (www.HumanCloning.org ).
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