To Clone Or Not To Clone (2041 words) Essay Example For Students

To Clone Or Not To Clone (2041 words) Essay To Clone Or Not To CloneTo Clone or Not to Cloneâ€Å"On a soft summer night July 5th, 1966, at 5 p.m., the most famous lamb in history entered the world. (Kolata, pg 1) â€Å"Many people wonder if this is a miracle for which we can thank God, or an ominous new way to play God ourselves.† (Duff, pg1) Now the question is do we clone humans next? For what reasons would we clone humans? Would this be an ethical thing to do in the right situation? These are the issues I wish to discuss in this essay. From the time I was a child I have been hearing about cloning, and until recently, it was only as a science fiction theory. Cloning is now a reality. It undeniably has some very scary prospects. It is very questionable as to just how some in the scientific world will now attempt to proceed with this process, now that it is a reality instead of a theory. Over the years society has picked up coined words from the scientific, but cloning has to be one of the all time favorites. A fairly simple word, clone evokes more controversy than any other word from science. Cloning is not much different from in-vitro fertilization. The major difference is that only one parent donor is required. It is basically creating an identical twin in which one is younger than the original. The word clone refers to one or more offspring derived from one ancestor. You would think with such a simple definition it would not be such a controversial subject, yet it is. The possibility of this technique being applied to the human race shakes me to the very core. Could we be heading to the Hitler ideal of a more superior race? Will we use it to insure all babies will be born without birth defects? Will it be a way for some more fortunate to store extra body parts for later use? Will it replace adoption? Could that part of society considered unacceptable be eliminate d? These are only a few of the numerous possibilities of its uses. Could cloning in its self produce a perfect world?One truly outrageous idea many people have, is that people from our past such as Hitler, could be cloned. Nothing is further from the truth. At the present time cloning is only done using living cells, so no person already deceased, could be cloned. Even if it were possible, it would not be the Hitler from history. This is a totally different world than he lived in. The factors that determined his personality are no longer in place. Many plants purchased these days purchased these days are clones. So the theory is as old as man. It is merely taking a living piece of one thing and producing another, and it seems this is completely acceptable. It is only when science crossed over to animal life that the problems began. People realized if it could be accomplished with a sheep it is completely conceivable that it can also be done with a human. Not only a moral issue it is also a religious issue. Many are afraid we will end up with these armies of drones, not real people. Any human, if cloned, would be like you and me, totally unique, with a soul, merely a younger identical twin raised initially in a petri dish. :Some religious organizations have made formal responses to the cloning issue. Here are some of them. The Catholic Church: Pope John Paul II released a statement condemning the cloning of all life forms. The Vatican also issued a statement that only condemned human cloning, but did not address other forms. Judaism: The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Meir Law, stated that the cloning of any creature is against Jewish law. However, some believe cloning in order to produce better food and medication would be allowable in Jewish tradition. Overpopulation & the enviroment EssayARGUMENTS IN DEFENSE OF? Cloning would enable infertile couples to have children to their own. ? Cloning would give couples that are at risk of producing a child with a genetic defect the chance to produce a healthy child. ? Cloning could shed light on how genes work and lead to the discovery of new treatments for genetic diseases. ? A ban on cloning may be unconstitutional. It would deprive people of the right to reproduce and restrict the freedom of scientists. ? A clone would not really be a duplicate, because environmental factors would mold him or her into a unique individual. ? A clone would have as much of a sense of individuality as do twins. ? A clone would have the same rights, as do all other people. ? Cloning is comparable in safety to a number of other medical procedures. ? Objections to cloning are similar to objections raised against previous scientific achievements, for example, heart transplants and test-tube babies, that later came to be widely accepted. (*This information is from World Book)I have to admit, that when I started this paper I was deadset against cloning. The more and more I read and study about the subject, I find myself changing my mind. There seem to be a lot of definite good things that could be accomplished. Don’t get me wrong; there are definitely some problems to be worked out. But admit it; is there really anything that does not have problems?Sure there are crazy people out there that may try and do strange things. They are out there everyday doing strange things not related to cloning. Already there is a cult out there; they think they are aliens cloned. They have some very odd ideas. This is no reflection on cloning, though. If it were not cloning it would be something else, like Elvis. Is everyone against him, beca use of all the rumors and weirdoes surrounding him? No, it only makes him even more fascinating. We are constantly looking for medical breakthroughs in all areas. Why not allow the professionals in the cloning area use the knowledge they have to try and better the quality of life. Sure, there will have to be governing laws as in anything else in this country, but don’t completely tie their hands. Remember a few years ago people felt the same way about in-vitro and surrogate mothers as they do about cloning now. These days that stuff is old news. Roses are cloned all the time to make them more healthy and disease resistant. Does the human race deserve less than a flower. Maybe we should step back and take a good look at our standards. Do we hold some less important things above the most important things? Is the quality human life not the ultimate goal in this time and age? If not, it certainly should be. I am definitely looking at cloning as a positive thing. Not all issues are resolved in my mind, yet. That may come with more information and technology. I definitely do not think that there should be a total ban. Some type of research needs to be allowed and a some point, testing of some type. For years cancer has eluded doctors as to a cure. There are treatments and some go into remission, but are they ever really cured? Maybe the answer to the cancer cure could also be in some form of cloning. I have no doubt that there are those working outside the rules and regulations on cloning. Most of these though are not the ones we need. We need the big laboratories, with the money to back them to be working on this issue. Maybe, like so many other things, it will take time for people to accept. But how much time do we have? What about all the people dying now that might possibly benefit from cloning? I say lets get moving and find out just what can and can’t be done. Maybe in the end we will all be disappointed but at least the effort will have been made. Science