Pros and Cons of human cloning
Advantages of Cloning
With that being said, the following are the generally accepted benefits of cloning:
• Easy replacement of internal organs and tissues for patients in need of transplants instead of waiting for suitable organ donors, alive or dead. Since the transplanted organ contains most of the recipient’s genes, there is a lesser chance for rejection as well.
• Cloning can be a solution to the infertility issue among couples. Theoretically speaking, parents can choose the desirable qualities in their genes to be passed on to their children.
• Genetic research can immensely benefit from cloning especially in combating the wide range of genetic diseases.
Tipping the balance in the pros and cons of cloning is the fact the gene cloning can be harnessed to produce superior plants and animals to feed humanity. Genetic engineering has made great advances in this regard although it is also polarizing.
Disadvantages of Cloning
Of course, there are disadvantages to cloning that prevent the advances in this area to be made. Such disadvantages include:
• Genetic diversity and its benefits are weakened with the replicating process in cloning. We may be exposing ourselves to a compromised ability to adapt to our surroundings, not to mention that the beauty of diversity is lost.
• Unethical practices can result from cloning as unscrupulous individuals can breed individuals with certain traits.
Probably the most contentious issue in the debate about the pros and cons of cloning is the ethical side of the process. Is it ethical to act like God by creating an embryo that develops into a human being? Is it ethical to kill a pre-embryo in order to harvest its stem cells, which will then be cultivated into an organ for transplant purposes? Is it ethical to mess around with nature in the first place?
Indeed, if you must take sides in the pros and cons of cloning debate, your main responsibility is to enter it with an open, educated and informed mind first and stable
With that being said, the following are the generally accepted benefits of cloning:
• Easy replacement of internal organs and tissues for patients in need of transplants instead of waiting for suitable organ donors, alive or dead. Since the transplanted organ contains most of the recipient’s genes, there is a lesser chance for rejection as well.
• Cloning can be a solution to the infertility issue among couples. Theoretically speaking, parents can choose the desirable qualities in their genes to be passed on to their children.
• Genetic research can immensely benefit from cloning especially in combating the wide range of genetic diseases.
Tipping the balance in the pros and cons of cloning is the fact the gene cloning can be harnessed to produce superior plants and animals to feed humanity. Genetic engineering has made great advances in this regard although it is also polarizing.
Disadvantages of Cloning
Of course, there are disadvantages to cloning that prevent the advances in this area to be made. Such disadvantages include:
• Genetic diversity and its benefits are weakened with the replicating process in cloning. We may be exposing ourselves to a compromised ability to adapt to our surroundings, not to mention that the beauty of diversity is lost.
• Unethical practices can result from cloning as unscrupulous individuals can breed individuals with certain traits.
Probably the most contentious issue in the debate about the pros and cons of cloning is the ethical side of the process. Is it ethical to act like God by creating an embryo that develops into a human being? Is it ethical to kill a pre-embryo in order to harvest its stem cells, which will then be cultivated into an organ for transplant purposes? Is it ethical to mess around with nature in the first place?
Indeed, if you must take sides in the pros and cons of cloning debate, your main responsibility is to enter it with an open, educated and informed mind first and stable