The Ethics of Human Cloning
Human Cloning: Fact or Fiction? Good or bad?
Jeremy Parks
08/05/13
Microbiology
Unit 6 Assignment 1
July 5th, 1996, Dolly the Sheep was “born”. Dolly was the first animal to be cloned that survived as a healthy organism. This event opened a proverbial “can of worms” . The possibility of cloning and the excitement of it all was evident in movies of the time. Jurassic Park, Mulitplicity and Invasion of the Body Snatchers to just name a few. Dolly was a great scientific achievement and set the stage for future cloning science. The ethics behind this kind of cloning became a hot debate and it is still a subject argued to this day. Can we and should we, clone a human being? Human cloning is considered by many as science fiction still. The fact is, human cloning is possible now. Not only is it possible, but certain steps have already been taken towards this advancement in science. Cloning human beings sounds like a wonderful scientific advancement, but when we begin to look at the ethical and social ramifications, we have to ask how ethical this science really is. The development and the success of animal cloning has raised concerns of human experimentation and the implementation of cloning human embryos. The World Health Organization has expressed its opinion that human cloning is unethical as well as the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. There are two main areas for human cloning. Human reproduction, which is cloning to produce a child , and therapeutic cloning, to provide compatible tissues and organs for replacement therapy. Reproductive cloning can help sterile individuals to have children and therapeutic cloning can be beneficial because of organ donor shortages. The need for immunosuppressive drugs for organ transplants is eliminated with cloned organs from the patients’ own DNA. The opportunity to research and cure diseases with cloning could revolutionize patient care and how we treat diseases. Being born blind for instance could eventually
Jeremy Parks
08/05/13
Microbiology
Unit 6 Assignment 1
July 5th, 1996, Dolly the Sheep was “born”. Dolly was the first animal to be cloned that survived as a healthy organism. This event opened a proverbial “can of worms” . The possibility of cloning and the excitement of it all was evident in movies of the time. Jurassic Park, Mulitplicity and Invasion of the Body Snatchers to just name a few. Dolly was a great scientific achievement and set the stage for future cloning science. The ethics behind this kind of cloning became a hot debate and it is still a subject argued to this day. Can we and should we, clone a human being? Human cloning is considered by many as science fiction still. The fact is, human cloning is possible now. Not only is it possible, but certain steps have already been taken towards this advancement in science. Cloning human beings sounds like a wonderful scientific advancement, but when we begin to look at the ethical and social ramifications, we have to ask how ethical this science really is. The development and the success of animal cloning has raised concerns of human experimentation and the implementation of cloning human embryos. The World Health Organization has expressed its opinion that human cloning is unethical as well as the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. There are two main areas for human cloning. Human reproduction, which is cloning to produce a child , and therapeutic cloning, to provide compatible tissues and organs for replacement therapy. Reproductive cloning can help sterile individuals to have children and therapeutic cloning can be beneficial because of organ donor shortages. The need for immunosuppressive drugs for organ transplants is eliminated with cloned organs from the patients’ own DNA. The opportunity to research and cure diseases with cloning could revolutionize patient care and how we treat diseases. Being born blind for instance could eventually
References: Dinc, L. (2003). Leyla Dinc 2003 ethical issues regarding human cloning: A nursing perspective. Logston, A. (n.d.). http://facweb.stvincent.edu/academics/religiousstu/writings/logston1.html