‘’Smith is licensed to experiment on human stem cells in Britain because his objective is to improve infertility treatment - one of five categories of research for which human embryos up to 14 days old can legally be used. He finds it frustrating that the cells he extracts for infertility experiments can't be used to develop tissues for transplant’’(New Scientist 2000)
It may provide a way for homosexual couples to reproduce themselves.
It will also provide valuable basic research and possible revolve of technologies related to reproduction and development.
Equally important, for a woman who is single could have a child using cloning instead of vitro-fertilization or artificial insemination.
In our society it has generally respected individual privacy and the general right to control ones body in regard to reproduction.
For a parents who has a child who is terminally ill and only need a bone morrow transplant, which can save the child’s life. If there is no donor available, then the parents can use to clone human being from the cells of the dying child.
‘’Therapeutic cloning could revolutionise the treatment of conditions such as Parkinson's disease. Doctors would take a healthy cell from the patient and fuse it with a human egg stripped of its own chromosomes to create a cloned embryo. A few days later, when the embryo has grown in a culture dish into a ball of cells called a blastocyst, they would remove the embryonic stem cells, which can develop into any of the body's tissues. Once biologists have discovered the triggers that will persuade stem cells to turn into the brain cells a Parkinson's patient needs, it should be possible to grow cells that are a perfect match for each patient.’’(New Scientist 200)
Cloning could also provide a copy of a child for a couple whose child had died.
Arguments Against Human Cloning:
Let’s say that everyone has the same genetic information, what happens if we lose the ability to clone. Which could lead to resort to natural reproduction, causing us to inbreed, which may also cause many problems.
One major concern is safety because research needed to quantify and reduce in any risk, which may be involved.
The Individuality and Uniqueness is which ignores the normality born of identical twins. Also the nurture is important than nature in the development of human qualities.
The technique of nuclear transfer is also early in its development stages. There are errors are occurring when scientists carry out the procedure. For example, it took 277 tries to produce Dolly and the scientist called Roslin produced many lambs with abnormalities. It could be argued that to clone a human it would take more than 277 tries, because a human contains more genes than an animal, for example a Dolly.
It seen that we are taking nature into our own hands by cloning animals or people.
‘’Hairs on necks still bristle when human cloning is mentioned. It stirs up feelings that scientists are going too far in "meddling with Nature" or that they are cheapening human life. Many religious groups also harbour specific objections because of cloning's dependence on human embryos.’’ (New Scientist 2000)
Many people think that when we will draw the line for getting in natural events and also they consider cloning unnatural because we they taking the work of God into our own hands.
They also believe that cloning does not respect the fact that humans have souls.
Some people say that their rights will be defied because clones are not natural birth of a new child. We would not receive clones with such as excitement as a child of a couple that conceived naturally.
Most people wonder what mental and emotional problems would result if a clone were to find out that he or she was cloned.
Discussion
It can be seen that there are several arguments for and against human cloning. There are always good and bad things about every situation because everyone has different opinions.
This may be a expensive method to use because below it shows a price list of what various reproductive alternatives cost:
‘’ IVF - $10,000-12,000
Donor egg - $ 5,000
Surrogate mother - $45,000
Cloning - $ 100,000 ‘’ (D.C.Wertz)
I think only certain people will be able to afford it.
Only a few people want to use cloning to make copies of people, and such uses should be banned where they’re not already. But several researchers see a lot of potential in human cloning because it will help patient with disease like Parkinson’s disease.
The latest news from the Roslin is likely to be seized on with relief. Scientists are there to believe that therapeutic cloning could be done without destroying human eggs or embryos. They are trying to create stem cells directly by adding the nucleus of an adult cell to embryonic stem cells.
‘’This would remove many of the ethical objections to cloning-though not all of them. Researchers would still need to use stem cells, copied from embryos. Such cells, however, are now growing in the lab, so few, if any, embryos would need to be destroyed to obtain more of them.’’(New Scientist 2000)
Conclusion
My view on human cloning is if we were to attempt to clone using nuclear transfer only once, and that it was going to be successful. Even if it proves to be successful you cannot be sure how long the child will live because the clones might look young but they would really be old-new-born baby clone would have DNA that was an old as DNA of the adult whose cells were used to create the clone.
I also believe that this technology should not be used until successful.
I think if we were to cloning it should be closely monitored as to what dangers are involved in having copies of people.
There should be no cloning on anyone unless it does not harm anyone or anything physically or mentally.
I see cloning as good ideas, but I do not think it should be used to reproduce humans though. Cloning tissue and organs is a good idea for science and medicine because there is always a demand for organ.
Bibliography
Books
Science world’ Cloning good for science or Baaad idea?
Vol 53
Pg 8,11,14
Clone
The road to dolly and the path ahead
Gina Kolata
1997
pg 3,9,203
Internet: http://www.humancloning.org/allthe.htm
Journals:
Andy Coghlan: The way ahead ‘’ It is time to stop arguing and start cloning?’’ 29 Jan 2000 New Scientists
Andy Coghlan: Back to source: 19 Aug 2000 New Scientist
The Daily Telegraph 24th Jan 2001