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 by a government agency such as the FDA as to whether the new protocol

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.