A famous American
couple was involved in a grisly road accident in the evening of the
wedding day. After the wedding ceremony, the couple was going to
Singapore for their honeymoon. However, as a fate would have it, the
wife survived with minor injuries while the husband who was on the
driving seat suffered from serious cuts and went for a coma for three
months. When the husband finally recovered, the doctors certified that
he would never be the same again, but would remain infertile for the
rest of his life. Since his reproductive organs had been severely
damaged, the wife knew that they would never have children together.
After considering numerous options, the only possibility left for the
couple to have children was through human cloning. This begs the
fundamental question, was human cloning the only option?
For many decades, the issue of human
cloning has raised numerous ethical issues since the opponents, and
those in favor of cloning have put forward compelling reasons to back
their arguments. While scientists argue that human cloning is a
fundamental advancement in humanity, theologians, ethicists and
psychologists disagree and think that it has led to a moral abyss and
degraded human dignity. However, in spite of the numerous debates, no
conclusive agreement has been reached on the potential benefits and
dangers of human cloning. The main focus of this essay will be to
provide an argumentative essay on why human cloning is potentially
harmful to the society and should be condemned.
Background of Human Cloning
The issue of cloning is believed to have
started in February 1997 at the Roslin Institute in Scotland when Ian
Wilmut; a leading embryologist cloned a lamb that was named Dolly.
Through this amazing discovery, the world woke up to the possibility
that with the use of technology to clone animals was a reality. As a
result, questions began to emerge whether cloning of human beings was
possible since they fall in the same family of animals. However, with
the creation of Dolly, a whole new concept of ethics was introduced to
cloning (Kass & James 165).
Cloning has been defined as “the
production of genetically identical organisms through the process of
somatic cell nuclear transfer”. This means that, through cloning, it is
possible to produce a baby with similar genes like the parent. (McGee
112). However, it is essential to note that, a cloned person is not
exactly the same as the original person. The clone can only be a
duplicate genetic since it is only the DNA that is replicated and the
person cannot be a Xerox copy. Furthermore, human personality and
behavior is not entirely dependent on genetics and clones may be totally
different from the original person.
Arguments in Favor of Cloning
One of the fundamental arguments put
forward by proponents of cloning is that, sterile people and those
without the ability to get children have an opportunity to have
offsprings and live a normal life. Those in favor of cloning argue that
if the lamb Dolly was able to be cloned and live a normal life, then it
is also possible to humans. Rader (n.p) contends that, if by any chance
couples face infertility at any point in their lives, cloning provides
them with an opportunity to bear a child. Additionally, for women who
are born without uterus, the DNA from the husband can be copulated
with eggs from a surrogate mother to produce a baby. Through this
scientific process, cloning has been justified on grounds that parents
can still have children who possess the genes from one of the parents.
According to Magdalene (2009), cloning
should be allowed for rejuvenation purposes especially for heart attack
cases (215). For example, cloned healthy heart cells can be injected
into damaged heart tissues, thus, leading to cure the heart diseases.
Besides, the use of technology can be used to nurture human stem cells,
which may be vital in curing diseases such as Alzheimer and Parkinson.
Moreover, the high demand for organs for transplant purposes augment the
justification for cloning, and if the practice is not allowed,
significant discoveries may be left unrealized.
Furthermore, McGee observes that the use
of technology can be used to clone prominent thinkers, movie stars and
the most famous people on Earth. As a result, even if these people age,
their generation will still be flourishing. Therefore, cloning will
serve both an economic and cultural value of preserving brilliant minds
and icons in society (273). For example, the cloning of Steve Jobs,
Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton would revolutionize the world the most.
Many basket ball fans would welcome the cloning of Michael Jordan to
revive their memories of his dribbling tactics. These are just a few
examples of fundamental justifications for cloning.
Arguments against Human Cloning
In spite of the arguments raised in
favor of cloning, I think that its costs far much outweigh its benefits.
The most primary reason to be against human cloning is that it
contravenes what God created in reflection of his own image. When God
made man, he did so in his own image and cloning clearly violates the
likeness of God. After creating man, God said “go yee and fill the
world”. Through this, God permitted conjugal union as a sign of human
dignity to procreate. However, cloning violates the right of procreation
since it removes the activity of child bearing from man and bestows it
to the laboratories (Turner 160). As a matter of fact, we all know that
only the God is our creator, and proponents of cloning are trying “to
act like God” by producing Xerox copies of human beings through
scientific methods. No wonder, why religious people condemn cloning as
it is a violation of God’s holy laws.
The mere fact that the first experiment
of cloning, which gave birth to Dolly the lamb was successful, does not
justify that it will be equally successful when used on human beings. As
a matter of fact, research had evidently proved that there were 276
failures of experiments done before the final one finally produced a
cloned sheep (Kass & James 165). Just imagine if these were 276
human embryos that failed before one of them succeeded? When cloning
human beings, the exercise is so inhuman because cloned embryos that do
not become successful clones are normally destroyed in research
laboratories. This act of injustices against human beings raises
fundamental ethical issues since it is “assisted and artificial
procreation”, which is affront to human dignity. In August 11, 2001
through a radio address, the former President George Bush strongly
opposed human cloning terming it as “deeply troubling” when scientists
create human spare parts at their convenience (Turner 175).
Another significant reason to oppose
human cloning is the health risks that arise from mutation of genes. It
is a fact that technology can at times be faulty, and you can imagine
the nightmare of living with an abnormal baby. As a matter of fact, as
the cloned child grows, the genetic material is also growing at the same
rate, which could be affected by a variety of factors.
Research on cloned animals has shown
that only a few of them survive beyond their third year after
production, with many clones resulting into disfigured by-products that
have severe abnormalities. To augment this fact, after the cloning of
Dolly, several cloned cows died after several weeks of development; a
situation that was linked to abnormality of blood in cell production.
Besides, the first cloned sheep prematurely died in February 2003 as a
result of severe lung cancer and arthritis (Magdalene 12).
In addition to contravening Holy laws of
God, the act of cloning out rightly turns human beings into
“commodities”. Besides, degrading the human dignity is not enough,
cloning not only reduces human life into a “laboratory project”, but
also makes clones to be treated as inferior people. This view is
supported by the Catholic Church which condemns human cloning. During
his speech on January 13, 2003, Pope John Paul II argued that, just like
euthanasia and abortion, human cloning is evil since it reduces a human
being to a “mere object” (Turner 25).
Questions have been raised as to
whether parents would treat and love a cloned child the same way they do
a biological one. According to Turner, once children grow up and
realize they were cloned, they tend to lose their self-esteem, feel
isolated and can engage in deviant behavior. This is because most of
them feel that they are just products who were made by technology (70).
Conclusion
In conclusion, I think that
exploratory essay topics like
human cloning should not be condoned under any circumstance. In spite
of the few arguments raised in support of the process, the fact still
remains that, cloning degrades humanity and demeans God as the supreme
Creator. Furthermore, I think that we should not be blinded by science
and subject human evolution to laboratory experiments to develop spare
parts for the human body. Besides, the costs of human cloning far much
outweigh its benefits.
