For the better part of scientific research history, animals have been used to facilitate the testing of new procedures, drugs, and quest for information. Now as we enter the 21st century humanity has created computer prediction models, tissue cloning, and great understanding of chemical reactions. However most of these new methods still are only sparingly used, despite their accuracy, and animal testing still remains the test method of choice. Imagine the world where everything was doubled, or tripled. There’s a newly developed technology that can allow doctors and scientists to duplicate living organisms.
This development in technology is known as cloning, and it has forever changed the views of life. Cloning can serve as the answer to problems which plaque the human, animal, and plant populations. Any living species can now be artificially created through cloning. This could potentially eliminate the possibility of extinction among many species. Cloning creates the possibility of having a twin or child carrying the exact DNA of another person. The reproduction of animals would ensure the lasting life of all species, and produce an abundant amount of food to feed the people of the world.
Even the vegetarians of the world would be happy with the amount of vegetation that could be produced. Cloning is the perfect means of improving the quality of human life on this planet. Cloning is a very controversial topic and will be for many years to come. In February 1997, scientists in Scotland announced the birth of Dolly, the first cloned sheep. This heralded the future of further cloning possibilities and scientists began extensive experiments on cloning, and have since cloned both plants and animals successfully.
The next step was to clone actual human beings but before experiments could be carried out, pressure started to build on the scientists because people started to doubt if cloning was ethical and morally correct. The government began to ban and impose constraints on cloning as a result of public pressure. After the cloning of Dolly, President Clinton was quick to cut all federal funding for research of human cloning (Lester & Hefley, 123). In December of 2001, the United Kingdom put a ban on human reproductive cloning but not therapeutic cloning (Seppa, 32).
Even though cloning raises some difficult ethical issues, there are many aspects of cloning that will be very beneficial to mankind. If the experimentation of cloning continues in the United States, scientists have the ability to clone body organs that could replace a person’s damaged organs. This would prove to be most helpful for organ transplant patients. Doctors and scientists would be able to clone an existing kidney, which would create the possibility for a fully operating organ to be transplanted into a patient rather than from a donor.
Cloning has implications for conquering diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, cancer and many other major deadly diseases. Cell-based therapy with the fusion of a single nucleus to an egg can treat certain diseases (Andrews, 87). Researchers have found that heritable diseases cause a lot of early deaths in many Americans. On average, two million Americans die each year and the statistics show the impact. 750,000 die from heart diseases, 500,000 from different types of cancer, and 150,000 die as a cause of strokes.
Approximately 70% of these deaths are related to genetic conditions that may have been prevented (92). Using cloning to save people from their failing organs and genetic illnesses would benefit many by giving them the opportunity to live healthier, longer lives. There are millions of Americans living today with many of these mentioned diseases. Those with objections to the use of cloning to better these people’s lives obviously haven’t put themselves in the position of anyone who could potentially be saved by these new techniques.
These medical techniques cannot only be used to benefit humans, but animals may be able to be saved as well. Full animal cloning could be used to increase the population of endangered species of animals, and thus save them from total extinction. This would help maintain a natural balance on the earth and have a continuous natural life cycle. Say you had a family dog that has been in your family for 20 years. This dog becomes like another family member. When it passes, by cloning it, you will be assured to have many more great memories to come.
A major topic of debate is the ability to clone a dead human. This would prove to be most helpful in cases of brilliant men with talents that could be used further to improve human life. Sounds good, but there as a few problems with this step of the cloning process. Scientists are yet to determine exactly how to clone a human brain. It is believed that the human mind is far too complex and difficult to clone at this stage of the cloning process. Many scientists believe that eventually there will be a way to clone a working human brain.
A cloned human has never been attempted for the simple reason that the human body is far too complex to duplicate in the current stage of discovery. The possibility of cloning dead humans is also a possibility. However, cloning deceased humans raises numerous ethical issues. Many people argue that the cloning process should only be used to improve the qualities of life. The argument of cloning being used for the good of humans is simple when looking at the benefit it would create for society. To duplicate a brilliant mind and draw from it the genius would help create a better world for everyone.
However, many argue that it is the right of the deceased to rest in peace. This argument may rest dormant until the first dead human is actually cloned. A common miss belief about the cloning of live human is the reproduction of an identical person. “A person originated by cloning would not be an exact copy of an adult human in many senses” (Pence, 16). There would be differences at a molecular level while the gene structure looks identical. The chance of two cloned human bodies being identical is virtually impossible.
When the transfer is made from molecules to cells, the complexity jumps exponentially because molecules can transfer into cells thousands of different ways. Many are unsure of the consistency of cloning humans but here’s a little food for thought. “Ninety-eight percent of cloned pigs, cows, and sheep that made it to the fetus stage thrive through their youth” (Travis, 153). That is the approximate number of fetus that survive when a human is artificially inseminated. Cloning could certainly benefit couples that are infertile and want to have children of their own.
These couples could use cloning to produce a baby with their similar characteristics. These parents may even be able to even choose between the smallest of characteristics in their child. Equally important, women who are single could have children using cloning instead of artificial insemination, which may possibly prove to be a more efficient way of artificial conception. It would also provide a way safe way for homosexual couples to have children of their own containing each partners DNA. Some people would suggest that cloning is an unnatural and unethical, but if it were intended to improve the quality of life, it should be used.
Human cloning is a different means of reproduction than sexual reproduction, but it is a means that can serve individuals’ interest in reproducing” (Tribe, 22). There are substitute ways of conceiving a child other than intercourse. “One is vitro fertilization in which the sperm and egg are put together in a lab and surgically implanted in a woman’s womb. When this procedure was first introduced, similar reactions followed as in cloning” (Andrews, 104). Many believed that these “test-tube babies” were not a natural form of conception and feared that these children may not live up the expectations of society.
As we have come to find out, these “test-tube babies” have turned out as predicted. “There is no difference between an artificially inseminated baby and a baby produced sexually” (Tribe, 50). Cloning could very well be an advancement for artificial insemination that. In time, many believe cloning will become the primary technique for artificially conceiving a child. Cloning could be used in a number of various ways to benefit the lives of Americans. This new scientific techniques can be used to improve the quality of life and bring balance to the ecosystem.
It could very well be inevitable that cloning play an important, if not vital, role in American lives. Society may be forced to accept these possibilities and lift some of the constraints off the experimentation of cloning. More research needs to be carried out to help eliminate any possible risks associated with the newly discovered procedure. Cloning doesn’t necessarily have to have a negative impact on the world. Cloning is a very beneficial technique to improve the quality of life, why not use the scientific breakthrough to the best of the world’s abilities. Cloning is the future.