Cloning Ethics
by Darren
March 25, 2009 – 3:38 pmCloning is already a reality yet discussions about cloning ethics rarely occur. This is strange, because cloning gives a new type of power to researchers that hasn’t existed until now. Cloning effects how humans live and what kinds of lives we have, so the area is one that should be of great interest to all of us. In this article, I’ll take a look at the ethics of cloning, both humans and animals.
Cloning isn’t a new technology, at least for plant life. Gardeners have been doing it for years every time they take a “cutting.” This type of cloning didn’t cause a great concern for ethical discussion, but certainly the areas of cloning animals and cloning humans are much more controversial. The areas of cloning legality, cloning ethics, and religious views on cloning have started to take shape as the field of biotechnology has advanced in the last ten years.
With the power of cloning, scientists hold the key to life in their hands
The discussion cloning ethics affects two main areas
- The ethics of human cloning
- The ethics of animal cloning
These issues are separate and require a great deal of detail to examine them. There’s no question than animal cloning is already affecting many. Genetically modified and cloned animals are already a concern in our food supply. Even a bigger concern, is the idea of cloning pets, which so far hasn’t been initiated on a commercial level.
Cloning pets deserves a close look at the ethics
“The cloning or genetic modification of pets serves no justifiable purpose. These efforts serve only to play upon one set of emotions-our affection for our companion pets-in order to desensitize another set of emotions-our repugnance at the idea of treating them as artifacts that can be “designed” and manufactured. The modification of livestock and the possibility of cloned meat entering the food chain are very controversial. So is the possible use of genetically modified animals to “grow” either pharmaceutical products or organs for transplant into humans.”
Of course the issue of pet cloning brings us to the first fork in the road in the discussion of cloning ethics. Does the genetic material that provides the body of a person or animal determine just “who’ that person or animal is. If we’re merely the byproduct of our genetic material, then we’re operating under genetic determinism. Our fate is decided by our genes alone.
“And just as identical twins are two separate people — biologically, psychologically, morally and legally, though not genetically — so, too, a clone would be a separate person from her non-contemporaneous twin. To think otherwise is to embrace a belief in genetic determinism — the view that genes determine everything about us, and that environmental factors or the random events in human development are insignificant.”
In the case of certain cloned animals, it has become obviously apparent that despite identical genetic material, there are a number of differences between the clone and the original. One owner of a cloned bull even appeared on “This American Life” to talk about just how different the animals were. In his case, he found this to be a jarring inconvenience, because the cloned bull was much nastier than his favorite pet bull. In fact, the cloned bull nearly killed the owner in an attack.
With the ban of federal funds being used to research stem cells, cloning will become even more of an issue, and so will the ethical debate surrounding the practice. Right now, very little is know about the processes being used by companies to create clones. Even less is known about the long-term ramifications of such acts. As cloned genetic material finds it way into more peoples lives through stem cells, cloned meat, or through direct operations, the impact it has on their health and future will likely be profound.
Of course the ethics of cloning animals is extremely controversial, but not to the same degree as human cloning. Once thought of as a space age faraway technology, the tools of human cloning are already in place. The number of potential applications of the commercial cloning of animals is astounding, yet the debate concerning the ethics of such actions, along with detailed discussions of the planned processes of commercial human cloning remains elusive. President Barack Obama, in lifting the federal ban on funding stem cell research has opened a new can of worms that will need to be discussed fully in many circles in upcoming months. Religious leaders have already expressed discontent on Obama striking down the ban, and are pushing for greater dialogue with his administration.
Cloning Ethics (related articles):
Tags: Cloning, Cloning Ethics, Issues
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Subscribe to Updates via Email
