English essay

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HUMAN CLONING

Introduction

Cloning is defined as the practice of creating comparable or analogous populations of genetically indistinguishable entities that transpire in nature when living things such as bacteria, insects or plants replicate asexually. Cloning is a technology in the field of biology that has raised some issues especially when it comes to cloning of animals and human beings (Gilbert, 2013). I stand for human cloning and I believe it is a biological breakthrough to advance human kind and in this essay, I will argue about the cloning of human beings, giving reasons for it and criticizing reasons against and furthermore, give a third perspective of it.

Human cloning is the creating of genetically modified and identical copy of a particular human being, and this is done through the reproduction of human cells and tissues. It is important to note that the possibility of human cloning has raised some controversies worldwide. Some nations have dared to pass the laws to allow for human cloning, but the ethical concerns, especially from the religious organizations, have discouraged them from doing so while others have succeeded in passing the laws.

Arguments for human cloning

Human cloning technology is considered a medical breakthrough and therefore, scientists and doctors can now cure diseases like cancer. This is because the cloning leads to better understanding of cell division and differentiation. Also according to Simon Smith, cloning may lead to the cure of some other fatal diseases such as heart attacks and revolution is cosmetic surgery. Furthermore, human beings will not have to donate organs for an organ transplant, and this will save lots of lives. Research has shown that sick individuals who need transplant die because there was no one to donate the organ for them.

The second argument for human cloning is medical tragedies. Some medical tragedies can be solved through cloning. Those who have suffered accidental medical tragedies such as burns, deformities, infertility and loss of loved ones, can find their solutions through cloning. New organs can be generated from the cells of the individuals and be used to create the needed organs or those destroyed as a result of accidental medical tragedies. Those who have lost their loved ones may opt for cloning to have another loved one.

Thirdly, cloning can be used to cure infertility and couples with no children will not have to suffer anymore. Such people are discriminated and in some societies they have become laughing stocks. Men feel like they are not real men when they have no children and women always feel insecure because they think their men will divorce them and replace them with fertile women. Furthermore, the current options for infertile couples to have children are painful, expensive and sometimes heartbreaking. With cloning, infertile couples will not have to go through all these because cloning has the potential to change their world almost overnight.

According to Dr. Richard Seed, cloning is a step towards immortality, and everyone wants to live very long and enjoy the sweetness and beauty of this world when they are young. Richard Seed explains that human cloning means taking human beings' DNA and reversing its age back to zero. Dr. Richard hopes that cloning will assist in the comprehending how to reverse DNA possibly to age 20 or less. This means that cloning would be a big step towards a fountain of youth (Hopkins, 2014).

Cloning can also assist gay couples get children. Gay couples go through a lot of troubles because not many societies approve their marriage. When it comes to children, it is biologically impossible for them to have children on their own. With adoption, it is not also easy because the adoption agencies want the children from the agencies be raised with both a father and mother figure who are of different sexes. Furthermore, people question the ability of gay couples to bring up a child well especially when the child is not technically related to them and unaware of their lifestyle. Cloning could be the solution for gay couples to get their children and this is possible by allowing the two gay individuals to take 23 chromosomes from each and put them into a single egg in order for them to have a true child of theirs (Grisham, 2000).

Arguments against Human Cloning

One of the arguments against human cloning is playing God. Opponents of human cloning believe that God is sole creator of man and other living things and the fact that humans are trying to create man through cloning is wrong. Only God has the power to do so and therefore, human beings should not attempt to be like God by creating human beings. Furthermore, God created man so that they can worship Him, and this makes it look like scientist wants to be worshiped as God by the clones they make. Human beings are already playing God, by using medicine and technology to cure diseases therefore, it is not a sufficient reason against human cloning.

Religion is another obstacle to human cloning, and religious people believe that human cloning is the sin as God is the only one with the power to give and take away life. It is God's plan that human beings reproduce through the proper means which is sexually and not asexually through cloning. Infertile couples cannot produce children through sexual means and therefore, they have no other choice other than human cloning for them to have a child they desire.

There are some uncertainties involved in the cloning of human beings, and people are not sure whether the cloned individual will be as perfect as the normal human being or imperfect. Opponents fear that the cloned beings may turn out to be hostile and dangerous to the normal human beings. They also fear that they may develop complications that they affect humanity in the long run (Araujo, 2007). With advanced technology, clones will be made to resemble humans in every aspect and this means they will have emotions and feelings just like human beings. This eliminates the possibility of hostility. On developing complications, that’s up to mother nature and laws, because even human beings sometime are born perfect but as they grow, they develop some complicated conditions that need medical attention.

The creation of sub-human. Opponents believe that cloning human beings lead to the creation of a weaker generation. This will also lead to further discrimination of such individuals as they will be considered as clones and be discriminated when they become conspicuous. Imagine a race of people of that is docile with super strength yet very low intelligence. The low intelligence that the clones have may trigger them to do a lot of harm to the normal human beings. Some doubt if they have feelings like those of the normal human beings. This race can also fall into slavery easily because the normal human beings may take advantage of their low intelligence. Opponents feel that human cloning will lessen individuals rather than advance mankind. As this may be true, I believe only few humans will be cloned to satisfy the need of those who really need them. I also believe the government will come in to prevent any discrimination and take action because they will be treated as any other human being.

Embryos at risk. Opponents claim that the process of cloning human beings is trial and error, and lots of embryos are created and destroyed when they are found not to be viable. This may affect the cloned person throughout their life which is not fair. There is no point of creating an individual who will develop some complicated conditions and suffer for the rest of their lives and die prematurely (Araujo, 2007). This is reason is also not sufficient because as time goes by and through experiences, the scientists learn and there will come a time that they will have mastered the art, and they will perform the cloning without putting embryos at risk.

Third Perspective

This consists of individuals who are partially for cloning and also partially against it and it all depends with the goals of the cloning. Such individuals may argue that human cloning is good if it will be used to cure cancer and on the other hand, it will not be if it used to give gay children marriage. Those in favor of this third perspective, also believe that human cloning should not be done in order to compete with God but to compliment God’s creation by being pro-creators with God.

Conclusion

As human cloning continues to be a controversial topic worldwide, I believe that there is nothing wrong with it. I believe human cloning is to the advancement of mankind. Human beings are currently suffering from diseases that cloning can solve and therefore, it should be allowed because human cloning is the solution to the problems human beings are currently facing. (Simon, 2014).

References

Araujo, R. J., (2007). "The UN Declaration on Human Cloning: a survey and assessment of the debate," 7 The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 129 – 149.

Gilbert, S. F., (2013). Developmental Biology, 10th ed. Sinauer Associates, Inc. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9780878939787.

Grisham, J., (2000). "Pigs cloned for the first time." Nature Biotechnology 18 (4): 365. doi:10.1038/74335

Hopkins, P., (2014). "How Popular media represent cloning as an ethical problem." The Hastings Center. JSTOR 3527566

Simon, S., (2014). All the reasons to clone human beings. Human Cloning. Retrieved from,