Think of walking down the street in thirty years and running into an exact replica of yourself. Is it your twin? No, you don’t have a twin; it is your clone. Your biological makeup could have been cloned as an embryo and raised separately as an experiment. Cloning has been going on without much controversy for years. But, ever since the successful cloning in Scotland of the Finn Dorset sheep, Dolly on July 5, 1996, the subject has been one of much debate. Should we or should we not continue to clone animals, and eventually humans?
The two most popular views are almost obvious; those who believe cloning should be pursued and encouraged, and those who believe that humans should not seek to clone themselves because they feel that is wrong. The two sides are there, but in between lies a large gray area of ethical and moral dilemmas. Questions such as, “Should we clone humans for the human organs they could provide (kind of use them as human ‘cattle’)?” “Should we draw a line as to the limit of human cloning, if so, where?” and others quickly arise in discussions on human cloning. So, although in essence there are only two major viewpoints, the area dividing them is not clear and contains a dense gray area clouded with ethical and moral dilemmas.
It all started out by curiosity and built itself into a geneticist’s way to replicate various genetic materials such as gene segments and cells. When it was discovered that the cells could be reproduced, it eventually led them to think that just maybe a whole organism could be cloned. They worked up to larger and larger organisms and finally Dolly arrived. She was made through a cloning process that generally takes a fair amount …
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…9, no 10). pp. 65-70.
Dixon, Patrick Dr. “The Genetic Revolution”, Kingsway Publications (May 1993). pp. 7-99.
Internet Encylopedia of Philosophy (IEP). Online: http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/r/ruleutil.htm. April 24, 2000.
MSNBC. Online: http://www.msnbc.com/news/357051.asp (January 13, 2000). February 4, 2000.
National Public Radio News. Online: http://www.npr.org/news/health/980106.cloning.html (January 6, 1998). March 27, 2000.
Roslin Institute Online, Information on Cloning and Nuclear Transfer. Online: http://www2.ri.bbsrc.ac.uk/library/research/cloning/cloning.html (April 3, 2000), April 4, 2000.
University of Hawaii News Release. Online: http://www.hawaii.edu/ur/News_Releases/NR_July98/cloning.html (July 22, 1999), April 3, 2000
Ursery, Danney, Handout: Ethical Analysis and Moral Reasoning Overview (Summer 1999). pp. 10.
Human Cloning: Science or Madness?
Human Cloning: Science or Madness?
Despite evidence that nearly all cloned animals are plagued by significant genetic abnormalities, two scientist groups have announced their plans to impregnate women with cloned embryos, each proposing to create the world’s first cloned human being.
Clones are created by injecting genetic material from a single cell of one person is into an egg cell that has had its genes removed. The cell is then stimulated to act like a fertilized egg and divide, becoming an embryo. Once the embryo reaches an appropriate stage it is then implanted into a woman’s womb, and the resulting baby would be like an identical twin to the donor.
Since the cloning of the sheep named Dolly in 1997, scientists have been working hard to create cloned human embryos for research and reproduction. During a hearing on human cloning, Panayiotis Zavos, a Kentucky based reproductive expert, told scientists, “The research must go on.” Zavos is working with Italian fertility specialist Severino Antinori, who gained headline news in 1994 when he enabled a 62-year old woman to have a baby. Along with the Zavos and Antinori team are the scientists with Clonaid, an extraterrestrial Raelian movement based in Canada who claims cloning our bodies is the next step towards everlasting life.
Dr. Bridgette Boisselier is a Raelian Bishop and director of the human cloning project at Clonaid. The Raelian movement claims humanity was created by “space scientists,” and “once we can clone exact replicas of ourselves, the next step will be to transfer our memory and personality into our newly cloned brains, which will allow us to truly live forever. Since we will be able to remember all our past, we wil…
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…t proponents of human cloning claim this technology will help couples with infertility problems. Bragdon v. Abbot, 118 S.Ct. 2196 (1998), is cited as evidence that infertility is a disability and reproduction is a major life activity that is a fundamental human right. Human cloning advocates argue the development of a technology that can give an infertile and childless couple the right to reproduce, have a healthy biological child of their own, completing their biological “life cycle,” is a constitutional right that should not be outlawed.
Works Cited:
National Institutes of Health, NIH Update on Existing Human Embryonic Stem Cells, August 2001
The Associated Press, Votes Kill Efforts to Use Embryos for Research, August 2001
The White House: Office of the the Press Secretary, White House Fact Sheet Embryonic Stem Cell Research, August 2001