One of the most beneficial and probably one of the most important arguments for cloning is the ability to help couples that are unable to have kids of their own. This can help couples that are not only infertile but gay couples as well. Cloning enables these couples to have another option to having children than just adopting. The thing with cloning is that it allows the couples to have a child that would have similar genes that they could pass down to their children. In my opinion and I am sure in many others as well, that cloning is really helpful because it allows the couples to have a child that is genetically similar. In a report by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that 2.1 million married couples were infertile in 1995 (Barren). Also according to the 2000 Census there are nearly one million gay and lesbian couples in America (Mason). So as you can see for about 3 million couples just in America cloning would be extremely helpful. One of the most important things in life for many people is the opportunity to have and raise a child. So those who are unfortunately unable to have children are given an opportunity to raise a child that has their own genes in them with cloning.
Another great reason to allow cloning to be legal is that is has the ability to cure genetic diseases. How this works is simpler said then done, but it is strongly believed to work. According to the Human Cloning Foundation, it is said that the average person has eight defective genes in them. These defective genes allow people to become sick when they would otherwise remain healthy (Benefits). So what cloning may be able to do is to replace the defective genes so they won't continue to be passed down from generation to generation. For example women that may have a high risk of Down syndrome could have the option to ensure that their child or children would not get this disease (Benefits). With the ability to use cloning to get rid of genetic diseases why are we thinking about making cloning illegal? We have the scientific knowledge as well as the technology to help with genetic diseases and save lives so why not use it, right?
My third and finally point may not be as appealing as the first two but is still very important. Having the ability to clone humans is just as important having the ability to clone animals as well. Cloning animals will be just as helpful as cloning humans for many reasons. One reason is that there are many endangered species that are very helpful in our environment. Species that are important us are suffering because of the growth of our population and because of this they are dying out (Cloning Endangered). With the ability to clone we can save these endangered species as well as help our environment. Since our population is growing so large and affecting other animals we should be able to use our knowledge to help them.
Even with all these benefits of cloning there are still disadvantages that need to be considered. There are really three main disadvantages according to Dr. Patrick Dixon. The three main reasons are the possibility of health risks from mutated genes, emotional risks, and the risk of abuse of the technology (Dixon). The health risks that can come from cloning are things such as disfigured clones and many abnormalities that would not appear until after birth. Dixon refers to a cow that was recently cloned and died weeks after birth with a huge abnormality of blood cell production (Dixon). Even though this was an animal clone it could in fact happen with humans and that would be the big scare.
The emotional risks that Dixon refers to are very simple. Dixon says that it would be emotional tough on both the clone and its parents. Dixon uses a daughter that is cloned from her mother as an example. Dixon asks, "What happens to a marriage when the "father" sees his wife's clone grow up into the exact replica (by appearance) of the beautiful 18 year old he fell in love with 35 years ago (Dixon)?" This is a great point that Dixon brings up and he absolutely right, there could be problems like this but we are not one hundred percent certain. If we don't experiment then we will never know.
I truly believe that making cloning legalized would be a great help not just for humans but also for animals, like endangered species. Of course there are some risks to cloning but with anything there are going to be risks. From what I see, there is much more to gain than to lose. With what I am calling the new big debate on the rise; I think that cloning should be a topic that is talked about more than it has been. I feel that many people that are against cloning and even people that are for cloning really don't understand exactly what cloning is or what how the process exactly works. Many people only hear rumors and believe things that they see on television. I think that when people here the word cloning they think of something scary. Having more discussions in schools as well as on television on the cloning issue and how the process works would be extremely helpful. The more quickly people become educated on this new scientific knowledge, the faster lives can be saved and new families can begin. Having the support of all society is going to be needed because without it there may be more problems than good.