Cloning

( 1 Vote ) I wrote this for my Bioethics class.

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Cloning is one of those subjects that is both a cutting-edge issue that has not really been agreed upon ethically, and one that really has not had a true political discussion. The actual cloning of animals has almost been fully mastered in some regards. In contrast, human cloning is still in its infancy stages of development. Cloning is also brought up in several forms of media that explore the possible fears and ethical issues with the advancement of cloning technologies.

Before discussing human cloning, it is important to talk about the cloning of animals. The reasoning is quite simple; cloning animals is relatively much simpler than cloning a full scale human. In addition there are considerably less ethical issues concerning animal cloning than there are when talking about human cloning. Another reason is that generally when scientists do experiments, it is accepted that they must to do experiments first on animals and that, in time they will be able to move on to doing human experiments.

The cloning of animals is a relatively new scientific possibility. The earliest clone animal was nearly half a century ago. However within that half century, a great deal has been learned and a large number of different animals have been cloned. Most often than not, whenever people think about animal cloning, they will most likely assume that Dolly the Sheep was the first cloned animal. However, this honor goes to a cloned carp in 1963. As of today, some of the following animals have been cloned already; carp, mice, sheep, monkey, gaur, cattle, house cat, mule and the list continues to grow almost daily. [6]

In most cases, the cloning of animals has been done for scientific reasons. However between the years 2004 through 2006, if a person had the money they were able to get cloned copies of their dead pets. For example, it was believed that woman paid around $50,000 to get her 17 year old cat cloned after it died. As one would assume, this brought up a very important ethical issue in regards to pets. It is believed that there are large amounts of owners who euthanize their animals every day. Some agree that instead of spending $50,000 for the sole reason of bring back only one animal that very same amount could possibly save countless animals from being euthanized. [4]

However, in spite of the fact that large numbers of animals have been cloned there are several problems that animal cloning still faces today. Some of these problems include that actual number of deaths that occur in the production of cloned animals, issues that arise from the fact that they are clones, and the fact that the genetic material for clones comes from one parent, instead of the required two parents who offer 50% of each of their information.

One of the issues that we currently face deals with the high death rate, around 90% of cloned embryos, that occurs in the creation of the animal clones that die before they are even born or are unable to reach adulthood. In the case of the world’s first cloned horse, Prometea, there were only 14 viable embryos of a total number of 841 reconstructed embryos that were used. Of that number only 4 were implanted and only one, that being Prometea, actually succeeded. [7] Another example is the world famous Dolly the sheep. The cloning of Dolly only occurred after there were 266 prior attempts that had failed in cloning a sheep.

In regards to Dolly, some scientists believe that the reason that she died at the relatively young age of six was due to the fact that scientists had used DNA from sheep that were already six years old. As a result one could say that Dolly began her life with DNA that had already aged six years plus her own life of six years which could add up to a life span of twelve years that was lived by Dolly in only six years. [7]

Another issue relates to health problems that are believed to arise from cloning. Some of the health problems are; high degree of disease infection, immune systems that are compromised, growth of tumors and additional problems which more often than not are of unknown origins. The Japanese have cloned large amounts of mice which resulted in a high degree of mice dying relatively early due to what they believed poor health. The appearance of good health does not guarantee that the clone will live. This was demonstrated when Australia’s first clone sheep died the same day that it appeared to be healthy. [3]

It is also important to look at what fears and ethical issues have and could arise from the advancement of cloning technologies within various forms of popular media. Some that bring up such questions are: The Island, Star Wars – The Clone Wars, Similitude – an Enterprise episode, the Asgard race from Stargate, and the 6th Day. In addition, novels and video games are other forms of entertainment that also brings up ethical issues with human cloning.

Similitude, and The Island raise the question whether or not it is ethical to produce clones for the sole purpose of taking body parts to save the lives of the people who were cloned. At which point, once the use for the given clone has been completed the clones are disposed of.

In Similitude, a crew member of the Enterprise is severally wounded and the ship’s doctor reaches the conclusion that unless a drastic measure is taken, the crew member will lose his life. The decision is made to create a clone of the crew member and at a later point in time, use the newly grown clone to heal the wounded crew member. However the clone must be killed in order to take the required organs that are necessary to save the crew members life. The captain and the doctor understand the ethical issues involved however they ultimately decide that the priority is with the crew member, and not the clone.

The movie The Island brings up an interesting ethical question in regards to: How far can an organization go in the commercialization of cloning humans? Unlike Similitude, in The Island the killing of the clones occurs on a daily basis. The setting in The Island is that a wealth person, who pays 5 million, is able to get a cloned copy of themselves for insurance purposes in the event anything happens to them. These mass produced clones go from fetus to adulthood in an incubation chamber within a years’ time and are not considered humans, but as advanced products that are manufactured. Whenever the use of a person’s insurance policy is needed, the cloned counterpart is taken to surgery to remove whatever body parts are needed for the original host to use. At this point the clone is disposed of because they no longer serve any importance to both the company and person who requested the clone to be made.

The Island and Similitude are different in many ways though they both are about cloning. In Similitude, it was an isolated event that did not reoccur. In addition, the ship needed the injured crew member because he a vital part of ship operations who could not be replaced. In addition, the decision to clone the crew member was a last resort after all other possible options were discussed and had already failed. The Island’s view on cloning very different, in the movie cloning is just a commercial service that is done whenever a person is wealthy enough to afford to get a cloned copy of them. Additional differences are that is the need of actual clone was not a last resort but there were other possible techniques that could be used to save the person’s life without the need to produce a clone.

Is it acceptable to design and produce a full scale human clone for the sole purpose of harvesting it for few parts? Is it also right to just dispose of the body as if it was just a piece of meat? It is as though, in the case of The Island, they do not see a difference between human clones and animals. For the most part, within our society it is accepted that we put humans above animals. However in the case of the company within The Island, it seems that the company does not share that very viewpoint as society does. In addition, would it not be more ethical just to produce cloned organs that do not have consciences instead of creating full body clones that have a high chance of developing consciences?

The Asgard race from the series Stargate is another example that discusses concerns with cloning. The Asgards only reproduced themselves through the use of cloning because they were no longer able to reproduce the natural way. They made clones of each other and through the use of their very advanced technology; they could download their consciousnesses from their dying bodies and would later transfer their consciousnesses into the cloned bodies. They have been doing these transfers for hundreds, if not thousands of years which has resulted in the degeneration that has caused them to hit a wall in which they could no longer save their race though cloning, which eventually lead to the extinction of the Asgards. As a result of cloning repeatedly over the countless centuries, they determined that their repeated use of cloning has resulted in a genetic condition that is incurable and which would lead their population to have a very slow and painful death. [1]

Star Wars – The Clone Wars can also be used to show some of the fears that people may associate with the notion of cloning. One of the worries that are brought up in the film is the notion that an organization with the means will be able to create their very own army by using clones to enlarge its military forces. As a result an organization that has a cloned army will be unstoppable because they can just clone more troops until they have accomplished whatever goals they had wanted to reach in the first place. Cloning would give the military am unimaginable amount of power.

The movie the 6th day brings up additional concerns. If a person wants to create a clone, who do you ask permission to create one? There is also the fact that do you even need to tell the person who you are copying that you are making a clone of them? The main character in the movie had a clone copy of himself made without knowing about it. If this happened today, who would be responsible? Another incident which takes place within the movie deals with an injured football player. At the start of the movie, a football player is injured and taken to the hospital. During this time, the original player is killed and is replaced with a cloned copy of the player. Later on, the hospital says that the injured player only received minor injuries and that he would be back on the field in no time without telling the public that the original was killed and switched with a clone.

Another debate that must be discussed deals with how the worlds various religions perceive human cloning. Most religions feel as though humans are/will harness the power that is too great to deal with, a power that only god/s should have domain over. In addition, their perspectives on humans are that each person/body has its own soul. They also say that there should be a line drawn in the sand that indicates whether or not an individual or organization has gone too far.

One of the many concerns about cloning is in regards to the notion of individuality. Most of us are raised with the notion that everyone is unique, one of a kind and that there is no one else like us. However with cloning, people feel as though it removes the uniqueness feeling that entails with being human. One possible example deals with the fact that a clone is an exact genetic copy of a person which means that that clone could theoretically become exactly alike or the exact opposite of the person they cloned without allowing those clones to become their own individuals.

Another possible issue that cloning may and could possibly bring up is what and how cloning will affect the notion of death. For example, a father loses one of their children to a fatal car crash. Our notion of death is that the child who lost his life is gone and can no longer be brought back to life. However through the use of cloning, that child could supposedly be brought back to life. As a result, the thing that makes us mortal humans, that being death, may be taken out of the equation altogether.

In addition, because a person can bring back a loved one who is gone through use of cloning technology, some may feel that the life of the person who originally died may not be fully remembered and the value of that given person may be taken away from them. Also the grieving person who has lost someone important to them is in a sense covering over the fact that a given person has indeed died by using cloning as a way to make believe as if that the given person had never died in the first place.

Generally, whenever people think about human cloning, they think of a fully cloned human. For the most part, we have not been able to achieve such a milestone. However to a certain extent there have human cloning but on a much smaller scale. Scientists have already been able to clone and produce several working human organs. Some of these organs include: bladder, skin, lung, eyes’ to name a few.

One the flip side, there are and will be many benefits that can arise from cloning which some say will outweigh all of the possible negative contributions that may result from cloning. Some of the possible benefits are but not limited to: rejuvenation, the treatment of heart attacks and other health related problems, stem cells, infertility treatment. [2]

Cloning may make rejuvenation of the elderly possible in that it may be likely that the aging may one day be made to look much younger. It is possible to design and product cloned organs that will use used to repair or completely replace original organs that have failed. If a person’s liver, kidney, bone marrow or cells becomes compromises as a result of numerous reasons, a person’s life could be improved or even spared by using cloning technology.

As of yet, the cloning of humans is an illegal activity, non-therapeutic, in most if not all the nations of the world. The laws, most of which were passed around 2001, vary from nation to nation but they generally reach the conclusion that the cloning of humans is for the time being illegal and that further research must be accomplished before cloning can be legalized and become an accepted practice within our societies. For the time being, human cloning should be made illegal until such time that more information is reached by cloning animals and human organs.

Some of the countries that ban cloning, either reproductive and therapeutic, altogether include but not limited to Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada and an additional 33 countries. At the same time, there are fifteen countries some of which include Japan, Israel and the United Kingdom that have banned reproductive cloning but allow therapeutic uses. One most note that for the most part, there does not appear to be a general consensus on how countries show deal with the development of cloning. [5]

It is totally understandable that there is no consensus over the topic of cloning for a number of reasons. The first being that cloning is a technology that is still years if not decades away which results in people are unable to decide what sides they are on. In addition, given that there is a population of over six billion people who all have countless different viewpoints and beliefs; it may take some drastic event/s that could unite the world in deciding whether or not the ends justify the means in the cloning of humans.

In the end, we should be grateful that human cloning is currently not a major issue. However in the near possible future, human cloning may be a Pandora’s Box that we will be unable to close back up again.

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