Human Cloning

Human Cloning

Introduction

Cloning humans is a moral and ethical issue that people need to think about, especially with the advancing technology. In the debate over cloning, there are those that feel that the benefits and advances gained from cloning outweigh any social dilemmas, and there are those who feel that cloning may be wrong on a fundamental and moral level which would produce scientific and social problems. Advancing technology may contribute to preventive options and help people experience optimal health, although science and its discoveries may have some catastrophic effects on mankind. The social aspect of cloning may raise problems of human existence and purpose of life.

Embryo Cloning

Parents might want to clone a child, either to provide transplants for a dying child or to replace a child that has died. Is it really that easy to replace someone? To replace a genetic match would be a haunting reminder of the child who had died. In appearance the cloned person would look the same, but identical genes do not produce identical people. Environment and life experience develops human personality. A parent could clone a second child who resembled their first in appearance, but all the evidence suggests the two would have very different personalities (McGee, 2001).

In reality human beings are far from being perfect. Having different traits is what makes people unique. The use of cloning technology might encourage the undesirable attitude that humans are to be valued according to how closely they meet social expectations, rather than loved for their own sake. Some people fear that cloning children would result in that child being treated as object rather than a person (Pence, 1998).

Therapeutic Cloning

Genetic engineering and cloning, when used ethically could have some medical uses. More than 900 genes associated with disease have been found. Such as Huntington's disease, that leads to mental and neurological deterioration and eventually death. This disease has a late on-set, 30-40 years old and there is no treatment. Other genes linked to particular forms of breast cancer and colon cancer have also been identified. Genes that predict a high risk of other forms of cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease are likely to be found before long (Pecorino, 2001).

Mastering the genetic code enables the possibility of the development of cloning technology to which genes are turned on or off to sequence specialization. Such processes should be faster than a nine-month gestation, and the availability of artificial womb technology would make possible important advances in organ transplantation that would be free of the complications of immune system suppression necessary for transplanting generically non-identical organs (Bender 22). Wray states that, "cloning would increase the chances for a biological match from 25 percent to nearly 100 percent" (59).

As technical knowledge expands, so does the power of the geneticist to influence the lives of clients who seek counseling about their own genetic status or the status of their children. In this developing context, the geneticist may experience most vividly the contrast between the beneficial caregiver and the client whose autonomy must be respected. The health care professionals may have a difficult time with decision making, such as withholding information from patients because their belief that informing patients would be psychologically damaging. Ethical dilemmas presented in the medical field are important issues to consider as universal health care approaches.

The early emphasis on using genetics to improve health and battle disease will involve other interesting controversy, such as insurance issue, who will be in control, cost, the role of the government, who benefits for cloned organs. Some object to cloning on a purely ethical level, while others favor cloning solely