Human cloning is becoming one of the most controversial topics of our time. With recent technological breakthroughs, whole new fields are opening with remarkable possibilities. With this huge step in science, the world realized that cloning of human beings was no longer a plot of a science fiction movie, but rather a realistic look into the future of science and medicine. Have you ever imagined what life would be if we could eliminate problems such as AIDS, cancer and human organs shortage?
This is one of the questions that arise when the subject of cloning is brought up. Cloning is the next generation of medicine and can be beneficial to humanity because of the potential to solve the problems with fertility, to prevent hereditary diseases, to eliminate the problem with human organs limitation and it would help paralyzed people. Cloning humans became more than a possibility after Ian Wilmuts announcement in February 1997, that a healthy sheep named Dolly had been cloned from an adult cell (Reilly 289).
Less than a year after Wilmuts discovery, the physicist Richard Seed said in a radio interview that he is planning to set up a private clinic for cloning human beings (Stock 61). The immediate response of the media and even of the president of the United States was hysterical and even more explosive than Wilmuts announcement about Dollys arrival (Reilly 293). Perhaps some people ask themselves, why Dr. Seed, a physicist with no laboratory facilities, garnered so much attention?
In fact, it does not matter what Dr. Seed can or cannot do, human cloning can be pursued in private clinics, no matter what government and scientists say (Stock 61). One of the strongest reasons why cloning should no be banned is the potential to solve the problems with fertility. The desire to have a biological child is deeply ingrained impulse. No one has the right to tell people that they should not be able to have their own child. If humans have a right to reproduce, what right does society have to limit the means?
It is desire to most of the couples to have children and when is impossible, some are willing to do anything to have one. In the book Engineering The Human Germline, Gregory Stock and John Campbell state their view by giving an example who and why might use the procedure of cloning (63-64). They are presenting a fantasy story what takes place fifty years in the future. It is the story of a wealthy forty years old woman named Jennifer who is single, has a child from another marriage, and she wants to have one more child (Stock 63). However, she is not able to have children anymore.
Notwithstanding there is a real possibility for Jennifer to have another child, and the alternative options are two. She could get a sperm donor and fertilize her eggs or she can clone one of her own cells (Stock 64). By using a sperm donor, she could bring all sorts of unknown genes and undesirable traits into her child. On the other hand, she could clone one of her own cells and get a child what would be 100% her genetic offspring. What is so horrible about having a child who carries the exact genetic material as you (Stock 65)?
Human cloning would be beneficial to our society because, it will solve the problems with fertility and it will make a lot of childless couples the happiest in the world. Undoubtedly, another immense reason why cloning of humans should not be banned is the opportunity of preventing hereditary diseases such as AIDS and cancer. However, scientific researches and studies show that cloning can be used to stop hereditary diseases by getting rid of defective genes and replacing them with new ones that do not carry the disease (Arthur 2).
Human cloning would help couples who carry HIV virus, mitochondrial diseases and etc. to create children who would not carry these diseases. By removing a nucleus from the embryo formed by vitro fertilization, the baby could be created without the inherited disease (Roslin Institute web page). The Human Genome Project is about deciphering human heredity (Stock 18). Scientists are not far from the biggest discovery in science ever and the question is not if but when. The potential of cloning to become a cure for heredity diseases sounds like a fantasy novel to most of the people.
However, recent official report of ACTs (Advanced Cell Technology) medical researchers illustrate the effectiveness of cloning to provide life giving cells for people carrying diseases (Fischer 62). The cloning troika Robert Lanza, Michael West, and Jose Cibelli has tested some of that promise in animals. By taking body cells and cloning them to produce an embryo, the stem cells from the new generated embryos grow new tissue and cure diseases in the animals that provided the original cells (Fischer 62).
For example, a paralyzed rat regained movement thanks to stem cells that were implanted in its spinal cord (Fischer 62). Furthermore, Dr. Lanza says in the interview: Weve already been able to turn cloned animal stem cells into large disks of bone, into beating heart cells, and whole dishes of replacement neurons that could treat Parkinsons disease (Fischer 63). Cloning would be beneficial to society because of its potential to treat hereditary diseases. If we allow scientist apply the method of cloning into human beings well grant a better tomorrow for our children, grandchildren and generations ahead.
Another motive why human cloning should not be banned is the problem with human organ limitation. People cannot force someone to give them their organs, and people cannot kill anyone to use their organs. However, if the technology has a chance to develop, scientists may be able to clone individual organs, which would not involve cloning an entire person. This would be beneficial to our society and particularly to people who lost an organ such as kidney or liver (Prichard). Furthermore, cloned human organs, which, in a long run, would work better than the transplant.
One of the greatest problems in medicine today is that there are not enough organs to go around to all of the patients that are in need of them. Currently in the United States only 2,300 of 40,000 Americans who needed a new heart received one (Prichard). That means close to 94% of the patients did not receive one. Statistics show that nearly one third of the patients on the waiting list for organs will die, and even if they do receive an organ the human body has the tendency to reject organs, what can cause serious illness or death (Prichard).
If we cloned human organs we would be eliminating a major killer in our society. This would mean fewer complications, little or no waiting lists and almost no deaths because of organ shortages. Perhaps most people dont really know what the actual procedure of providing human organs is. Average person probably thinks scientists are going to clone an entire human being and surgically remove his or her organs and transplant them into another person. However, this point of view is totally wrong.
For example, Robert Lanza, ACTs medical research director says in a recent interview: If you ask the average person, they will tell you its a tiny little person with buggy eyes, but in fact, these are just a few reproductive cells, not much different than eggs or sperm. They are the raw materials of life, but they are not a person (Fischer 60). Undoubtedly, another great benefit of human cloning is the potential to cure paralyzed people. Human cloning should not be banned because of its potential possibility to cure people with paralysis.
If there is a technological way that could be beneficial to all these people, what right have the society to limit the means? There are many people who are suffering from the involuntary disorder of paralysis, and they are willing to do anything in the world to be free. In the beginning of her article The First Clone, Joannie Fischer tells us the story about Judson Somerville. He is a 40 years old Texas physician, who endured a terrible cycling accident, and he has been in the wheelchair for years (Fischer 52).
However, since Wilmuts discovery in 1997, there is a hope for Somerville to end his paralysis. Researchers removed the nuclei that contain Somervilles genetic material from his skin cells and injected them into enucleated human eggs. A few of those eggs then began dividing in petri dishes (Bailey). The idea is that Somervilles skin cells will transform into nerve cells. These nerve cells are going to be perfect for Somerville because they are genetically identical to his other cells and they would not be rejected by his immune system (Bailey).
Those new transplanted nerve cells would knit up his broken spinal cord and Somerville will be able to walk again. In conclusion, cloning will have enormous beneficial repercussions around the world. With endless possibilities for future medical advancements it will the medicine of the future. It offers new hopes to people with fertility problems, incurable diseases, people that are in need of an organ and paralyzed people. The human condition will undoubtedly improve because of it. Knowledge that is to be gained from these fields is limited only by financial and public support.