The Dangers of Cloning
Beverly Banks
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a clone of yourself or a cherished pet? Does the idea seem interesting and “fun” to consider? If your answer is yes, then you haven’t been informed of all the medical and ethical issues involved with reproductive cloning. Cloning is a process where scientists genetically produce an identical copy of an organism through DNA transfer. Human cloning is illegal in several countries; it is a difficult and dangerous process because it goes against the natural process of human reproduction. Cloning can also be problematic for clones where they may develop severe problems with their health. There are multiple reasons why the idea of human cloning exists, and a major reason is to cure health problems. Another reason is so people can have a child genetically related to them. There are justified reasons for these practices, however the child would be born unethically. Clones may obtain health issues too when the parents could have attempted alternate fertility methods or adopted. Although human cloning is used for medical research, there are numerous other procedures that are safe for the patient. Cloning involves high failure rates which result in loss of embryos, and clones are susceptible to extreme health issues and inferiority complexes.
Advocates for cloning claim that it can help end suffering for people with different diseases. For example, if they have damaged organs, they can get their embryonic stem cells cloned to produce healthy cell tissues and replace their diseased ones. However, the rate of failure among cloning projects usually ends up causing more grief for those involved. In most cases, the patient suffers for nothing as the product is not successful. The amount of failed projects in cloning result in loss and waste of limited supplies, for instance, embryos. Therefore, cloning is extremely inefficient and often money and genetic materials used for the projects are wasted. A common process for cloning is where an adult cell nucleus is placed in an egg without a nucleus; this usually results in failure. This is because there are specialized proteins in the cytoplasm of the egg that aid the procedure for reprogramming. It is difficult for the proteins to reprogram correctly because it is not their natural process. As a result, the egg goes to waste. Therapeutic cloning is a process where a nucleus is removed from a person’s egg cell and from a somatic cell. Then, the nucleus from the somatic cell is inserted into the egg. The purpose of this procedure is so the patient’s damaged organs can be healed from the new healthy cells. Also, the rejection of the new cells is unlikely because they contain the person’s genetic material versus foreign DNA. Although therapeutic cloning has more practical purposes than reproductive cloning, if it is used enough, it is only a matter of time until this process evolves into human cloning. This is because both processes involve the same fundamental steps which are making a copy of the donor cell’s DNA and replicating a person’s genes.
Many people do not see cloning as an extreme risk that should not be practiced because they have not considered the many physical problems for clones. There was a sheep named Dolly born about twenty years ago that lived for about six years, which is half the life expectancy for most sheep. This is because she was a clone. Dolly developed premature arthritis, possibly due to early aging because she was cloned from a six year old adult cell. Dolly was born with health complications, proving that these problems are very possible with humans. She did not have a chance for a healthy life. The creation of Dolly the sheep was morally wrong. George W. Bush once gave his opinion on cloning in a radio address in 2001, saying “In recent weeks... scientists have created human embryos in test tubes solely to experiment on them. This is deeply troubling, and a warning sign that should prompt all of us to think through these issues very carefully. We recoil at the idea of growing human beings for spare body parts or creating life for our convenience. I strongly oppose cloning. And while we must devote enormous energy to conquering disease, it is equally important that we pay attention to the moral concerns… of human embryo stem cell research.” Although there have not been proved reported cases of this situation happening to humans, it’s still important to recognize the issues cloning could bring to humans. Then, society can avoid this dangerous situation ever happening or being considered in the future.
Cloning includes many physical dangers, but the psychological and mental issues involved in cloning are not discussed enough. The clones may suffer and that is an important effect that people are not informed on. Clones have a high risk of feeling inferior to the original individuals they were created from. Clones may feel insignificant because they are copies of another person. They are not original and never will be because they are derived by artificial means. Leon Kass is a physician, scientist, educator, and public intellectual. He wrote an article giving his opinion on cloning called The Wisdom of Repugnance and said "the pro-grammed reproduction of man will, in fact, dehumanize him.” (Kass p.17) This is true for clones because feeling like they’re a copy for their whole life is depriving them of one of the basic human rights everyone should have; which is a sense of individualism. Some people can also argue that since clones are being artificially made by humans, they are born without souls. This theory is very controversial but it is recognized as one of the countless of problems cloning can cause.
Cloning is a dangerous method of reproduction with many potential solutions. People who need healthy cells can get a bone marrow transplant. Cloning is illegal in many places throughout the world because of all the dangers it poses on humans and other subjects. It is important to consider all of the people who expect to receive medical help from cloning, or a couple who feels cloning is their last resort to having a child biologically related to them. These people usually end up being filled with disappointment because of the high rates of failure among cloning projects. Therefore, all of the effort put into forming a clone is in vain and inefficient. There are many other methods of helping people become pregnant medically that are safer and easier to achieve such as surrogacy, cell transfers and donors. Those methods of pregnancy are much more reliable than reproductive cloning and known for a higher success rate. If scientific researchers want to research further about cloning, they can also ask for twin volunteers to partake in safe methods of research. This will avoid the risk of causing any physical and mental damage to a clone and the people hopeful for its success. All of the issues cloning may pose on humanity are too treacherous to risk enduring. In the case of cloning, it is a much better idea to commit to safer and more effective processes of medical treatment.
Cited Sources:
"Why Clone?" Why Clone? Genetic Science Learning Center, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
Advocates for cloning claim that it can help end suffering for people with different diseases. For example, if they have damaged organs, they can get their embryonic stem cells cloned to produce healthy cell tissues and replace their diseased ones. However, the rate of failure among cloning projects usually ends up causing more grief for those involved. In most cases, the patient suffers for nothing as the product is not successful. The amount of failed projects in cloning result in loss and waste of limited supplies, for instance, embryos. Therefore, cloning is extremely inefficient and often money and genetic materials used for the projects are wasted. A common process for cloning is where an adult cell nucleus is placed in an egg without a nucleus; this usually results in failure. This is because there are specialized proteins in the cytoplasm of the egg that aid the procedure for reprogramming. It is difficult for the proteins to reprogram correctly because it is not their natural process. As a result, the egg goes to waste. Therapeutic cloning is a process where a nucleus is removed from a person’s egg cell and from a somatic cell. Then, the nucleus from the somatic cell is inserted into the egg. The purpose of this procedure is so the patient’s damaged organs can be healed from the new healthy cells. Also, the rejection of the new cells is unlikely because they contain the person’s genetic material versus foreign DNA. Although therapeutic cloning has more practical purposes than reproductive cloning, if it is used enough, it is only a matter of time until this process evolves into human cloning. This is because both processes involve the same fundamental steps which are making a copy of the donor cell’s DNA and replicating a person’s genes.
Many people do not see cloning as an extreme risk that should not be practiced because they have not considered the many physical problems for clones. There was a sheep named Dolly born about twenty years ago that lived for about six years, which is half the life expectancy for most sheep. This is because she was a clone. Dolly developed premature arthritis, possibly due to early aging because she was cloned from a six year old adult cell. Dolly was born with health complications, proving that these problems are very possible with humans. She did not have a chance for a healthy life. The creation of Dolly the sheep was morally wrong. George W. Bush once gave his opinion on cloning in a radio address in 2001, saying “In recent weeks... scientists have created human embryos in test tubes solely to experiment on them. This is deeply troubling, and a warning sign that should prompt all of us to think through these issues very carefully. We recoil at the idea of growing human beings for spare body parts or creating life for our convenience. I strongly oppose cloning. And while we must devote enormous energy to conquering disease, it is equally important that we pay attention to the moral concerns… of human embryo stem cell research.” Although there have not been proved reported cases of this situation happening to humans, it’s still important to recognize the issues cloning could bring to humans. Then, society can avoid this dangerous situation ever happening or being considered in the future.
Cloning includes many physical dangers, but the psychological and mental issues involved in cloning are not discussed enough. The clones may suffer and that is an important effect that people are not informed on. Clones have a high risk of feeling inferior to the original individuals they were created from. Clones may feel insignificant because they are copies of another person. They are not original and never will be because they are derived by artificial means. Leon Kass is a physician, scientist, educator, and public intellectual. He wrote an article giving his opinion on cloning called The Wisdom of Repugnance and said "the pro-grammed reproduction of man will, in fact, dehumanize him.” (Kass p.17) This is true for clones because feeling like they’re a copy for their whole life is depriving them of one of the basic human rights everyone should have; which is a sense of individualism. Some people can also argue that since clones are being artificially made by humans, they are born without souls. This theory is very controversial but it is recognized as one of the countless of problems cloning can cause.
Cited Sources:
Brant, By Elliot. "BBQ4b Is Cloning Endangered/extinct Species a Plausible Solution to Bringing Them Back, and What Problems on the Cellular Level Might We Encounter Using This Solution? FINAL." BEAUTIFUL BIOLOGICAL QUESTIONS. WordPress, 2016. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
"CGS : Reproductive Cloning Arguments Pro and Con." CGS : Reproductive Cloning Arguments Pro and Con. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.
"Cloning Fact Sheet." National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
"Cloning Quotes." Cloning Quotes. Notable Quotes, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
"Cloning Quotes." Cloning Quotes. Notable Quotes, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
"Human Cloning Foundation Home Page." Human Cloning Foundation Home Page. Human Cloning Foundation, 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.
Kass, Leon R. "The Wisdom of Repugnance." Stanford Edu. New Republic, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.
Murnaghan, Ian. "Explorestemcells.co.uk." -Understanding Stem Cell Research and Treatments. N.p., 10 Oct. 2016. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.
Rivard, Laura. "Cloning - Genetics Generation." Genetics Generation. Biology Department at the University of San Diego, 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
"Why Clone?" Why Clone? Genetic Science Learning Center, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
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