Human Cloning – a Moral Issue
Human Cloning – A Moral Issue
Alex Correa
Ms. Coveney
ENG 110
September 21, 2011
Essay 2
The topic of human cloning has become one of the most debated topics in the world since 1997 when Dr. Ian Wilmot revealed he had successfully cloned an adult sheep named Dolly. Since the cloning of Dolly, there has been ongoing discussions regarding the morally right and morally wrong of human cloning. According to the Gallup Polls, by Gallup, Inc., as of May, 2010 – 63 percent of the adults surveyed believed it was morally wrong to clone animals. With this same Gallup Poll, 83 percent of the adults surveyed believed it was morally wrong to clone humans (Gallup, 2011).
There are two issues involved with human cloning – the morally right and the morally wrong. Those who favor morally right, agree that human cloning is advantageous to replacing damaged cells with new cells such as grafts and eliminate the unavailability of human organs for transplantation. Another advantage is that the elimination of diseases such as Parkinson 's, Alzheimer 's and Huntington 's diseases can be achieved by the transplantation of genetically altered stem cells achieved by human cloning (What are, 1999).
Many people siding with the morally wrong side of the issue of human cloning look at it from a religious point of view. These individuals believe a human being becomes a human being at conception and that a person is made in the image and likeness of God (Saunders, 2011). With this thought in mind, it is man’s responsibility to respect and protect the unborn child.
Other areas against human cloning include a large percentage of cloning efforts which actually end in failure. It actually took 277 attempts to clone Dolly (Yount, 2004). In addition to requiring a large number of attempts to achieve one animal clone, many of the cloned animals who do survive end up having health problems or fatal issues with their genes causing the animals to die within
Alex Correa
Ms. Coveney
ENG 110
September 21, 2011
Essay 2
The topic of human cloning has become one of the most debated topics in the world since 1997 when Dr. Ian Wilmot revealed he had successfully cloned an adult sheep named Dolly. Since the cloning of Dolly, there has been ongoing discussions regarding the morally right and morally wrong of human cloning. According to the Gallup Polls, by Gallup, Inc., as of May, 2010 – 63 percent of the adults surveyed believed it was morally wrong to clone animals. With this same Gallup Poll, 83 percent of the adults surveyed believed it was morally wrong to clone humans (Gallup, 2011).
There are two issues involved with human cloning – the morally right and the morally wrong. Those who favor morally right, agree that human cloning is advantageous to replacing damaged cells with new cells such as grafts and eliminate the unavailability of human organs for transplantation. Another advantage is that the elimination of diseases such as Parkinson 's, Alzheimer 's and Huntington 's diseases can be achieved by the transplantation of genetically altered stem cells achieved by human cloning (What are, 1999).
Many people siding with the morally wrong side of the issue of human cloning look at it from a religious point of view. These individuals believe a human being becomes a human being at conception and that a person is made in the image and likeness of God (Saunders, 2011). With this thought in mind, it is man’s responsibility to respect and protect the unborn child.
Other areas against human cloning include a large percentage of cloning efforts which actually end in failure. It actually took 277 attempts to clone Dolly (Yount, 2004). In addition to requiring a large number of attempts to achieve one animal clone, many of the cloned animals who do survive end up having health problems or fatal issues with their genes causing the animals to die within
References: Krauthammer, Charles, (2002, April). A Secular Argument Against Research Cloning. Retrieved from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/670891/posts Saunders, Fr. William, (2011). Why Human Cloning is Immoral. Retrieved from http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=180 Scientific American, (2011, 21 Oct). What are the potential medical benefits of animal cloning? So far I have mostly read about the social problems cloning could create if applied to humans. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-are-the-potential-me The Gallup, (2011). Cloning. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/6028/cloning.aspx Yount, Dr. Dave, (2004). Arguments Against Reproductive Cloning and “Therapeutic’ Cloning. Retrieved from http://www.mesacc.edu/~yount/text/dy-anti-cloning-args.pdf