Human Genetics

The Continuing Debate Over Human Cloning In the past few years, human cloning has gone from a laboratory fantasy to a global debate. There are many arguments supporting both negative and positive effects of human cloning. Human cloning raises a lot of challenging questions about human liberty, dignity, and identity. Will human cloning be a great step for man, or will it lead to moral abyss? This question is asked all the time. With great research one would realize that with the implementation of human cloning, there would be a huge medical and non-medical advancement. People with superior or mental attributes would be cloned, large armies could be created, single and infertile parents could have children, and certain species could be saved from extinction. In contrast to all the positives of human cloning, there are more negatives related to the subject, mostly moral and ethical negatives coming from ethicists, psychologists, theologians and the church, as well as many mandated laws against the cloning of humans. Cloning could also cause a serious overpopulation crisis. The first major point in favor of human cloning is that cancer patients would be able to have bone marrow transplants together with other organ transplants. The treatment for leukemia could be revolutionized. One of the more successful treatments for leukemia involves the transfer of the patient's bone marrow through chemotherapy and the transplantation of healthy marrow cells. With marrow cells that are perfect Lomax 2 genetic matches for a leukemia patient could be created from that person with one's own cell through the use of human cloning. Organ transplants and donations are not so efficient at this point in time. It does help, but more often it does not. This is because there are a lot of factors that are taken into account when an organ is replaced with a donated one. If someone dies, and has signed a paper allowing for his or her organs to be removed from his or her corpse and donated to people in need, and the organs proves to be healthy and working, then our donation policies prove effective. This, however, is not always the case. The fact that every second more people are born than die continues to limit the usefulness of this program. Cloning could undoubtedly remove all of these factors, by allowing corpses to rot away instead of being ripped open, and save thousands, maybe even millions, of lives. Cloning could also lead to a better treatment for heart attacks. According to the Human Cloning Foundation, doctors will be able to treat heart attack victims by cloning their healthy heart cells and injecting them into the areas of the heart that have been damaged. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States and several other industrialized countries (Human Cloning Foundation 3). If heart disease can be cured, then human life expectancy will increase. In addition to better treatments for heart attacks, cloning may be able to ensure that one no longer suffers because of defective genes that cause cancer (Annas 2). Although scientist, do not know exactly how cells differentiate into specific kinds of tissues, nor understand why cancerous cells lose their differentiation, cloning, at last, could answer how to switch cells on and off, thus curing cancer. Looking at human cloning from the non-medical point of view, scientist Lomax 3 could enhance cloning by understanding genetics. Human cloning, once perfected, could lead to the cloning of other things. Cows could be genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals in their milk. Babies could be brought up immune to diseases by simply mixing their formula with milk. One should think about the possibilities in third world countries like Somalia, where whole villages could be made healthy and immune to diseases, and hunger could be something from the past never to return again. Another non-medical benefit from cloning is the potential for immortality. One hopes that cloning will help one to understand how to reverse DNA back to age twenty or whatever age one wanted to be (Mahendran 2). Could cloning be the long sought after fountain of youth? Furthermore, human cloning could also enhance cosmetic procedures. For instance, breast implants, which have the potential to cause immune diseases if not done correctly, would now cease to exist. Instead of using materials foreign to the body for such procedures, doctors would be able to manufacture fat, connective tissue, or cartilage that match the patient's tissues exactly, thus ensuring that the needed tissue will be free of rejection by one's immune system (Harris 4). Victims of terrible accidents that deform the face and body should now be able to have their features repaired with new, safer technology. Limbs for amputees will be able to be regenerated easily. Anyone would be able to have his or her appearance altered to satisfaction without the leaking of silicone gel into his or her body. Other problems that occur with present day plastic surgery would also be eliminated. Cloning could also have other medical benefits such as nerve and skin regeneration and treatment for specific diseases. It could enhance functions of mitochondrial genes in development, and speed the manufacturing of Lomax 4 therapeutic proteins, thus allowing it to be used in the treatment of rare medical conditions. In addition, human cloning could be used to clone people with superior physical or mental attributes. With this technology one would be able to clone movie stars, athletes, and great thinkers. Very unique individuals would be cloned. This, in turn, would help the world grow into a better place for everyone. If one were to consider the specific example of Clint Eastwood, he is a great movie star. His films have grossed several billion dollars over thirty years (Genetic Encores 2). He is one of the most popular living movie stars. The cultural and economic value of cloning Clint Eastwood would be enormous. Tens of millions of fans would be delighted. His wife is of childbearing age, and could easily carry and deliver the child, which would be brought up in the family. If the Eastwood family decided they wanted to do this, why should the government prohibit it? This same argument applies to sports stars. For example, people have suggested cloning Michael Jordan, the super basketball player. Millions of basketball fans would applaud the announcement of the successful cloning of Michael Jordan. There would be widespread interest and incentives in the cloning of other major sports figures because sports is the number one form of entertainment in the United States (Harris 5). Noble prizewinners like Dr. Ian Wilmut, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein would definitely be worth cloning for the potential future contribution, which their twin might make. The potential for scientific advancement would be very high if these two