Human Cloning
Should Human Cloning be Permitted in the United States?
Dolly, the sheep, was born at a research center in Scotland known as the Roslin Institute. Dolly was the first large mammal that was cloned from an adult animal. This event definitely raised the stakes of cloning, bringing the world closer to the possibility of cloning humans. Instantly, imaginations of the press, the people, and the scientific community were triggered. How soon would it be before the birth of a human baby cloned from the cell of a human adult would take place? The birth of Dolly was a remarkable achievement in the world of science, but it also raised many ethical concerns.
The successful cloning of Dolly occurred after 276 experimental embryos failed. Even though an embryo can be merely a single celled organism, it still contains human DNA, which makes it in fact a living human. Is it right, then, to sacrifice human lives for the benefit of research?
Human cloning may violate moral or human rights. It is seen that every human has a right to a unique identity and an open future. Even though identical twins share the exact same genome, they have different lives and futures. Since another version of the clone already exists, they already know certain things about themselves and the future they have to live up to. The clone will lose the authenticity of creating and becoming his or her own self. If human cloning is permitted, one will lose the sense of human possibility in freely creating one’s own future.
Ninety-five to ninety seven percent of animal cloning attempts still end in failure, and most scientific experts believe that attempts to clone humans will result in even higher failure rates. For every 100 experiments only one or two appear to produce a viable offspring. Even in species that have at one time or another been cloned, most attempts have failed. Researchers who have occasional success cloning one species, like cows, are finding failure with others, like dogs. Dr. Wilmut,
Dolly, the sheep, was born at a research center in Scotland known as the Roslin Institute. Dolly was the first large mammal that was cloned from an adult animal. This event definitely raised the stakes of cloning, bringing the world closer to the possibility of cloning humans. Instantly, imaginations of the press, the people, and the scientific community were triggered. How soon would it be before the birth of a human baby cloned from the cell of a human adult would take place? The birth of Dolly was a remarkable achievement in the world of science, but it also raised many ethical concerns.
The successful cloning of Dolly occurred after 276 experimental embryos failed. Even though an embryo can be merely a single celled organism, it still contains human DNA, which makes it in fact a living human. Is it right, then, to sacrifice human lives for the benefit of research?
Human cloning may violate moral or human rights. It is seen that every human has a right to a unique identity and an open future. Even though identical twins share the exact same genome, they have different lives and futures. Since another version of the clone already exists, they already know certain things about themselves and the future they have to live up to. The clone will lose the authenticity of creating and becoming his or her own self. If human cloning is permitted, one will lose the sense of human possibility in freely creating one’s own future.
Ninety-five to ninety seven percent of animal cloning attempts still end in failure, and most scientific experts believe that attempts to clone humans will result in even higher failure rates. For every 100 experiments only one or two appear to produce a viable offspring. Even in species that have at one time or another been cloned, most attempts have failed. Researchers who have occasional success cloning one species, like cows, are finding failure with others, like dogs. Dr. Wilmut,