Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human usually referring to monozygotic multiple births, human cell or human tissue (Wikipedia, 2009). Human cloning is by far one of the most controversial scientific believes in the world. The discussion and beliefs about human cloning started to bloom in the 1960’s and became a even more popular topic in the 1970’s. The topic became even more of a debate when the first animal, Dolly the sheep, was cloned in 1997. People all over the world have different beliefs and opinions about human cloning, but most of those beliefs revolve around religion, demographics, and society.
The term, human cloning, is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning; human clones in the form of identical twins are commonplace, with their cloning occurring during the natural process of reproduction (Wikipedia, 2009), also called embryo cloning. There are three very different types of human cloning that are used scientifically, and the name of those three types of human cloning are therapeutic cloning, reproductive cloning, and embryo cloning. Therapeutic cloning, which is the more medically used source of cloning, comes from cloning the cells of an adult and using those cells purely for research. Then there is reproductive cloning, which strictly involves making cloned humans from human cells. Countries all over the world have their own way of interpreting and believing in human cloning. Such countries that support embryonic cloning, but not reproductive cloning, include China, Singapore, England, and India( Tierney, 2007).
Now some countries that have outright banned embryonic cloning research are in France, Germany, Mexico, Australia, and Brazil. The United States has not nationally banned embryonic cloning, but some states have outlawed the idea. Federal financial help for research in the United States is even prohibited. In the United States, a bill was trying to be passed that banned Americans from going overseas to try and obtain stem-cell treatments through embryo cloning, but the bill was never passed (Tierney, 2007). Research for animal studies and cloning is not relatively cheap, so the cost of human cloning would probably be doubled or maybe even tripled. Researchers are putting a lot of their time into animal cloning, and there has even been separate studies that have been done using monkey embryos and there has been a study that uses frog cells.
American and European scientists and researchers have by far come the farthest and made the most progress in biotechnology( Tierney, 2007). The American Heart Association has funded research for animal cloning, human DNA sequences, and cell lines ( Cloning Research, 2009). States , such as, California have had their residents vote to allow and even finance embryo cloning ( Tierney, 2007). There were people, more specifically scientists, that tried to open up the whole idea of human cloning. In the year ,1998, scientist Richard Seed had announced intentions to set up a Human Clone Clinic, first in Chicago, then in ten to twenty locations nationally, then in five to six locations internationally ( Kilner, 2009).
Many people and countries have their reasons why the believe human cloning should be allowed or why they think it should be banned. First, an ethical reason why people believe that cloning should not be allowed is because early human cloning experiments may lead to a number of clinical failures, a great amount of abortions, and produce deformed offspring( McGhee, 2001). Another problem with human cloning is that a number of studies have shown that with the cloned gene , the problems and mutations do not develop until later in life. The estimated success rates and life expectancy right now of cloned cells is not very long. Now, there are also several reasons that people believe that cloning humans should be allowed. Some researchers propose that cloning could be used to treat such problems as nerve damage, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure, severe burns, lung damage, liver failure, kidney failure, and cancer( Liske, 2005). A few other researchers also believe that human cloning can provide benefits with infertility, reversing heart attacks, cosmetic surgery, and fixing defective genes ( Human Cloning Foundation, 1998).
Human cloning can be represented in a few different manners. First, there iscloning to produce children: this is the production of a cloned human embryo, formed for the purpose of initiating a pregnancy, with the ultimate goal of producing a child who will be genetically virtually identical to a currently existing or previously existing individual( The President’s Council on Bioethics, 2002). Cloning for biomedical research: this is the production of a cloned human embryo, formed for the purpose of using it in research or for extracting its stem cells, with the ultimate goals of gaining scientific knowledge of normal and abnormal development and of developing cures for human diseases( The President’s Council on Bioethics, 2002). Cloned human embryo: (a) a human embryo resulting from the nuclear transfer process (as contrasted with a human embryo arising from the union of egg and sperm). (b) The immediate (and developing) product of the initial act of cloning, accomplished by successful SCNT, whether used subsequently in attempts to produce children or in biomedical research (The President’s Council on Bioethics, 2002).
Reasons why people should or could be against human cloning include their beliefs in God or their religion, how cloning it is unsafe, and how researchers and scientists are so-called playing with fate. People can say that we are playing God when talking about researching and doing human cloning studies, and then other people can say that we do not know exactly what God’s intentions are when it comes to human cloning. People within different religions might not all be opposed to human cloning or they might not all be for human cloning. Not one person can say God is against or for cloning because that is not that one person’s choice to make. Religious beliefs are so different within denominations. One Catholic person or one Jewish person might have the same opinion or different opinion about human cloning as another Catholic or Jewish person. Now , the different ways that human cloning is or can be unsafe is that even scientists are not sure if the clone’s life would be productive or last long, and the human clone might not even have feelings, emotions, morals, values,traits, or the clone might not even have a personality.
A person that does not feel anything could become very dangerous or harmful to other people and their self. Playing with fate and playing with God are sort of along the same lines. When something or someone is changed by the human cloning process, then we do not know if the DNA will become structurally damaged. When things happen to people, they usually happen for a reason, I believe. What is going to happen when someone has a disease or a certain condition, and we try to clone them. The idea sounds good, but scientists are not really sure yet if they can change their genes. A human that is cloned could keep the same disease or condition and maybe even inherit something worse. There are just so many reasons , at this point, that the problems or unknowing research outweighs the benefits of human cloning.
Problems that revolve around cloning are numerous or there would not be so many people and countries that are against human cloning. Reproductive cloning is expensive and highly inefficient, about 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring, and more than 100 nuclear transfer procedures could be required to produce one viable clone ( Human Genome Project, 2009). In addition to low success rates, cloned animals tend to have more compromised immune function and higher rates of infection, tumor growth, and other disorders (Human Genome Project, 2009) . A few other problems that also may occur can occur during the cloning process are programming errors during scientific studies, while after the cloning process the genes can become mutated or deformed. One of the most influential problems is that researchers and scientists do not know all the details of what will occur when a human is cloned.
Human cloning is a very debatable topic that will continue being discussed for years and years. Scientists will keep trying to improve science, and work on studies that clone all different types of animals. There are different types of human cloning, and many people throughout the United States have different beliefs about each process. There are many advantages that are talked about, but they are not allowed to be scientifically proven. The advantages and benefits sound great, but it does not necessarily mean they will happen if human cloning is allowed. There are a large amount of disadvantages and risks that revolve around human cloning, and we are not sure if it is worth it. Human cloning could be a great improvement in science if all the variables were perfect, it did not cost too much, there were not that many disadvantages, and we knew exactly what was going to be produced with those cells. Religion, society, and the country or state that we live in might actually have a bigger influence on us than we think.
John Tierney. Are Scientists playing God? It depends on your religion. New York Times. Noveber 20, 2007
Human Cloning. Wikipedia. November 5, 2009.
Glen McGhee.Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning. Febuary 2001.
Jill Kelly Liske. Human Cloning Foundation. The Benefits of Human Cloning. 2005.
Cloning Fact Sheet.. U.S. DOE Human Genome Project Information.
Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry. The President’s Council on Bioethics. Washington D.C. July 2002.
Cloning Research. American Heart Association.
John Kilner. Human Cloning.
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