1. Summary
This article explains the advantages and disadvantages of cloning, coupled with whether or not cloning is ethical. Cloning can be considered ethical as there are many other forms of artificial reproduction which are. Cloning will eventually be part of everyday life, and people will get used to it. Cloning can help create stem cells to cure various diseases and it can help mothers to bear children. However, the technology for cloning is not fully fledged and may cause harm to the subjects of the cloning or even the mothers, as even cloning animals has still not been made possible.
2. Commentary
Cloning. That single word is enough to spark off a chain reaction of anger and excitement anywhere in the world. Cloning could lead to disasterous results, with deformed babies and mutants only dreamt of in nightmares coming into existence for real, and mass legions of soldiers, all identical, with only one cause. To fight.
That cloning remains a highly controversial topic today, it is still an important field of science. We must delve more into the research of cloning to find out more about how we can help man and society. However, in the process of doing so, we must not forget about the perspectives of others, such as those who find it unethical, the viewpoint of the mother, and the thoughts of the clone itself.
Cloning may be considered unethical in that the livelihoods of many people are at risk. For example, the mother may face problems if the child is born with deformities. The mother will be at a loss whether to keep the dysfunctional child, or to simply end its suffering. We also have to consider the perspective of the child, as although it may not feel emotions just yet, it can still feel pain. We will not know if the child who is born suffers from internal problems. As such, we have to think through these viewpoints first because science must always be ethical, and if science is carried out at the expense of others, then science is better off left undeveloped.
Another controversial area of cloning would be the allusion of Man to playing God. This is not acceptable as there are many people who have a monotheistic religion that God created Man, and therefore Man has no right to create Man himself. The idea of cloning clashes with the idea of God as it is wrong for Man to be toying around with the balance of nature that has been set in place for us.
Furthermore, cloning has not been successful so far. Many trials on animals have failed in producing a fully functional clone. A very striking example would be Dolly the Sheep. Dolly was a result of 276 failed attempts to procure a cloned sheep. All the other 276 sheep died prematurely. If we are to move on to human cloning, we might as well be prepared for many more child mortalities before even a single human clone is successful, and this is certainly not ethical.
On the other hand, cloning has its benefits, if mastered properly. A mild form of cloning, the production of stem cells, can actually help to save many lives. Stem cells are a special type of cell that can modify their functions to be suited any environment in the human body that they are in. As such, it will be easier to carry out, say, heart replacements, as we do not need a donor to provide the heart. Instead, the patient himself can provide the stem cells through cloning in order to produce his own heart. In this way, cloning serves to benefit mankind.
In addition, cloning can be one of the methods for artificial reproduction. If a mother wants to have child that is of her own genes, but is unable to bear a child and her ovaries cannot produce eggs, then she can use cloning. This will help many women around the world who wish to have children but cannot, and this again shows another good side of cloning.
Lastly, and most importantly, cloning must be pursued as it is an aspect of science. Cloning offers a wide field of opportunities that are waiting to be discovered. It is not within Man’s ability to understand everything, but it is Man’s duty to try and understand everything. If we stem the research in cloning and make it illegal, then we will not be making any progress in the field of biology. As such, we have to continue cloning studies as it is especially important and relevant in today’s modern age.
In conclusion, we should and must continue research in cloning. However, we have to consider the ethical boundaries that we are confined in so as not to breach anyone’s rights of privacy. We must ensure that all those involved in the research, most importantly the mother and the clone, are not harmed in any way during the research. Yet cloning is definitely a must as it is a potential disease-curer and a child-bringer. Most importantly, cloning must be carried out carefully with the necessary precautions so that it does not go out of control and produce the nightmarish figments of our imagination.
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