Surely these ratios are NOT definitive enough for us to go and risk human lives with them! Now you may be thinking well it sounds as if were against cloning altogether. This isn't true. Cloning will enable us to carefully eliminate or avoid certain cells which can lead to cancer. For example a mother who is desperate to have a child can do so without worrying about a daughter who will have an immense chance of contracting breast cancer as every woman of the past generations in her family have had. Opportunities like these are exceptional and should be an option. However these options should be safe and have a promising success rate. That is what this is about. Making sure that what we are trying to achieve has a high enough possibility of success before attempting something this complicated.
Research cloning as stated by the Professor of Philosophy at the College of New Jersey “is when an embryo has been created from the genetic material of a single organism that will never be allowed to develop beyond a clump of cells”. In other words the research of cloning is done with the embryo which will never be implanted into a woman. Non-reproductive or therapeutic cloning are other terms for this procedure, and from these cells we can learn information about organ and tissue reproduction (cloning), the possibilities of further alternative forms of reproduction and additional knowledge on miscarriages and other deaths in infants.
If we allow this type of cloning to continue, this may reduce the failure rates of cloning, and produce further advances in medical procedures.
Along with these failure rates there are also other complications. We do not know all the effects of using a grown embryo to create a clone, so we can not predict all the difficulties that may develop from it. Knee reconstructions in their teens, along with the possibility of premature aging, where the chance of developing senile dementia in their 20’s is a growing increasing. This disease causes the ill to have poor memory and concentration, to be socially withdrawal and have a lack of interest in their usual activities. It can also develop into Hypersomnia, a sleeping disorder.
Parents who encourage cloning, because of the desire to have a child surely would not want to put there loved one through all this at such a young age, an age where there are still so many things to discover. The child is not yet to have found love, a chance to if possible, have a child of their own. Surely they would want to wait until the research of cloning has been refined and the chance of error and complications significantly smaller. To wait until they could provide their child a long and healthy life. A life one could enjoy and be a piece of for the better part of 70-80 years? An argument against this case is stated on the website and reads that it is believed that no human activity is without accidental death and we should not put such a burden on cloning, and although this may be true it does not mean we should go rushing into something as complicated where the consequence will unavoidably be deaths that could have been avoided if we had just been more patient.
Other consequences that can result when research is not sufficient include; ‘large offspring syndrome’ which is where foetal growth is increased and the overall baby and its organs and limbs are extremely oversized, obesity- many clones that do survive until birth are extremely overweight throughout the rest of their lives and experts are unsure as to exactly why this side effect occurs and the large rate of birth defects- making it to birth is not a guarantee that the new born will survive. Often clones are born with "horrendous abnormalities" involving skeletal and immune system defects, not to mention heart, lung and other vital organs. All of these problems and complications have been recorded from experimenting with animals with much simpler cells and DNA then humans. This statement only again reassures us that human cloning should be postponed until we are ready and fully knowledgeable.
Now many people may say that to succeed we must take chances, and this isn't being argued. Surely though there is an appropriate time and place for chances to be taken? Attempting to clone a human now would be like skydiving without a parachute! Yes, like cloning, skydiving is a risk but no one is going to do it without the right equipment! The same thoughts can be applied to the ideas of cloning, get the right equipment-the right research before jumping. We’ve seen some of the effects that can occur if these chances are taken now. Is it really worth it when if given the time we could refine our research and take the plunge with out concern?
So is the need, is the want for success so great that we want to risk the health and lives of surrogate mothers? Women who are trying to help the scientific process, who long to have a child of their own, regardless of the consequences she may be subject to? Surely we could allow a few years for research to continue and therefore significantly decrease the problems and glitches in the process? We tell our children not to dive head first into a pond without knowing how deep it is. Cloning is about the children. Yet we are not taking our own advice. Isn't it about time we did? For the sake of both the mother and the child.
