Ethical Impact of Cloning on Contemporary Society

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Engineering

Document 1

Just like many other fields in the areas of science and technology, genetic engineering has been a direct result of technological improvements. The need for improvements in the functioning of living things such as animals, plants and human beings has led to increased popularity of genetic modification. One major direct effect of genetic engineering has been the topic of cloning. Cloning involves the application of genetic engineering practices to come up with replicas of the living organism in question. The subject of cloning has drawn widespread concerns among various people in the world today. According to them, only God is the one to create and sustain life and therefore an act of trying to emulate God's ability is a sign of competing with Him and therefore belittles God.

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This argument has mainly been addressed to the concerns regarding human cloning. Cloning of human beings would result in the production of a genetic twin, but with a completely different personality which translates into a different person altogether. In the eyes of many religious people, this constitutes an attempt to create human beings, which is competing with God. Besides, cloning human beings compromises sacredness of life. The resultant genomes in the clones are therefore modified and specifically manipulated to match the parent organism. In cases of human cloning, such processes would result in maintenance of the genetic traits in the clones as they will be similar to the ones in the parent. The process of evolution relies on the continuous mixing of genetic materials that in turn help keep the gene pool alive.

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However, cloning circumvents the natural process that results in random assortment and rearrangement of genetic materials. As a result, the entire evolution process would be affected by cloning. However, cloning of human beings involves raising a human being as an offspring from only one parent. For cloning, only the genetic materials from a person are required to produce an identical copy of the person. Therefore, the need for input of two parents is eliminated therefore going against God's commands. Human cloning, therefore, goes against the divinity of procreation as ordained by God. By evading the intended plan of Procreation through the divine marriage setup, the practice of human cloning is ethically wrong as it renders the institution of marriage impotent. From the incidence, questions arise of the possible impact of cloning.

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Could cloning be subjecting the animals to greater harm? Could cloning actually be reducing the lifespan of clones as compared to natural animals? The answers to these questions would go a long way in finding out whether cloning of human beings could be a good idea. The circumstances surrounding the death of Dolly are also important in analyzing the possible effects of cloning on human life. If the cloned sheep developed abnormal growth in the body tissues, possibilities are that the human clones would face similar problems. Such effects would greatly harm the human clones. (Joseph, 2000) The growing concern of cloning human beings to use their organs in organ transplant to human beings in need of such organs would also subject the clones to undeserved misery (Aleksandra, 2015).

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It is inhumane to subject other human beings to great distress such as taking their body organs, worse off without their consent. Some of the scientists in support of human cloning have argued that human cloning would improve the quality of life by providing critical body organs such as lungs, the liver, and kidneys for transplant. This practice would mean that the human clones will be used as storage beings whose only role would be to provide other human beings with the organs they need. The clones would, therefore, suffer at the hands of their human counterparts as a result of the harsh action of keeping them alive only to make use of parts of their bodies including organs and tissues to benefit other human beings.

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In addition to the concerns discussed above, human cloning is ethically wrong as it would result in other complications regarding human dignity and wellbeing. Human cloning would result in an unjustified production of human clones that would result in unfair competition with other human beings. For instance, cloning would add the pressure of coming up with replicas of human beings with great abilities and talents. Some of the most talented footballers, actors, musicians, athletes, artists and those with high intellectual ability would be cloned with the intentions of making sports, entertainment and other aspects of life more interesting. However, one of the negative results of this practice would be the emergence of a crop of human clones with abnormally high ability compared to normal human beings.

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On further advancement of application of technology in human cloning, more and more questions arise instead of answers to such questions. In the end, human cloning poses more unknown results to humanity and the ethical concerns regarding cloning. Legally, cloning of humans will cause great complications. In situations where more than one donor would be required to facilitate the cloning of a child, the question of parental rights would arise. Parental eligibility issues would arise with questions surrounding the criteria to be used to arrive at who of the two donors would take parental responsibility. For instance, cloning has facilitated the emergence of a breed of cattle that are genetically modified to provide a higher supply of beef and milk. Such advancements have so far proved successful as the food from such animals has been tested and found to be of similar benefits to the naturally-occurring ones.

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Cloning has led to the rise of Genetically Modified Organisms which have subsequently been used to develop and improve food supply, therefore improving the general wellbeing of human beings (Vajta, & Gjerris, 2006). While cloning of human beings largely remains abhorrent to many people, a good number of people have come in support of cloning of specific human organs and body tissues. Cloning of some human organs such as the liver, kidneys, lungs and other parts has so far been successful and proved greatly beneficial. Human cloning is therefore ethically wrong and should not be pursued any further. References Aleksandra, S. (December 28, 2015) Human cloning possible but remains 'abhorrent' in minds of public. Retrieved from http://www. cbc. (April 7, 2000) To Clone or not to Clone: The Ethical Question.

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