|
|
|
Home::Legal
The Cloning Debate
Author : Peter Kennedy
Cloning is the process of creating an exact copy of the original, and recently, “cloning” refers to the replication of living humans and animals. Somatic cell nuclear transfer, as the process is called, involves removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with the nucleus from a cell of the organism to be cloned. In the past few years, advances have been made in both human and animal cloning. Scottish scientists famously cloned a sheep, and British scientists reportedly cloned a human embryo that survived for five days. Cloning is an extremely controversial subject that forces society to examine the proper limits of man’s control over life.
In 1997, Scottish scientists famously produced a female sheep, “Dolly,” using the process of reproductive cloning. Since that time, other scientists have cloned other species, including cows and rabbits. Most recently, scientists are attempting to reproduce humans through cloning. President Bush and the Republican party are strongly in opposition to human cloning. Conservatively tend to believe that life is a creation, “not a commodity,” and that human cloning would have a disastrous impact on the American moral fabric. In 2002, Congress introduced a bill that would ban human cloning in all forms, imposing a prison sentence and multi-million dollar fine on anyone who attempted human cloning. (The Ban on Human Cloning Act has yet to be passed.)
There are practical considerations to the cloning debate, as well. Most medical experts believe that reproductive human cloning would not produce a health newborn. Indeed, many scientists predict that cloning would produce harmful abnormalities in a baby’s genes. Many scientists and medical practitioners welcome the advance of cloning for individual human cells. This process, called therapeutic cloning, adopts the concept of cloning on a micro scale, to help regenerate broken or diseased body parts. Some politicians, such as Republican Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania, support the idea of therapeutic cloning.
Critics of therapeutic cloning argue that the process should be prohibited, no matter how beneficial the practical applications may turn out to be. The most vocal critics of therapeutic cloning, mainly from religious communities, argue that the destruction of human life, even on cellular level, is a moral offense. These cells form the beginning of human life, and humans do not have the right to destroy life in order to create life. The creation of life, they argue, should be left to God.
The cloning debate lends itself to larger questions, including: Is it immoral to recreate life artificially? Does human life really begin at the cellular level? Should the government interfere with scientific advances that could benefit millions of people?
About the author:
OpineTree is a blog website that encourages debate on today’s most controversial political topics, including abortion, affirmative action, http://www.opinetree.com/cloning.html">cloning, the death penalty, euthanasia, gay marriage, gun control, health care, social security, stem cells, as well as other http://www.opinetree.com”>debate topics. Visit http://www.opinetree.com/cloning.htmlto join the http://www.opinetree.com/cloning.html">cloning debate.
Spam emails More free articles Related articles
|
More related feeds |
E-Book, Tutorial, Articles and News Online
Still, cloning touches upon Mankind's most basic fears and hopes. It invokes the most intractable ethical and moral dilemmas. As an inevitable result, the debate is often more passionate than informed. According to cloning's detractors, ...UNESCO Advises UN to Re-Open Cloning Debate | Catholic Exchange
Later this month, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will meet to discuss reopening the international cloning debate. Cloning debate slow
Whether a United Nations body will recommend that some human cloning be allowed is -- at this point -- still too close to call, according to a Canadian researcher who just returned from Paris where the group is meeting. ... UNESCO says UN should re-open cloning debate
UNESCO will gather in Paris later in October to explore whether human cloing justifies a new initiative internationally, rather than initiating an ethical and scientific analysis of human cloning. HealthZone.ca - News & Features - Experts set to revisit global ...
Canada's cloning law up for review. Canada could find itself in the middle of the human cloning debate within a matter of months as a ban on the procedure here comes up for review early next spring. This country formally banned human ... the dog cloning debate
yesterday i read a news story that caused a momentary fantasy followed by a swirling internal debate. a woman recently paid a korean bio-tech company to clone five puppies from her deceased dog. you see my beloved little terrorizer, ... the cloning debate
gm debate: cloned meat safe to eat says eu's food agency. professor dan collins, a member of efsa's scientific committee, told reporters that there was no appreciable difference between meat from cloned animals and that from ... Scholars and Rogues » The ethics of cloning a caveman
One day cloning/creating something ‘human’ will happen. Whether we will hear about it…who knows? I wish Brian would cover the scientific debate on Neanderthals and whether we do owe more to them than is thought… Russ Wellen, December 2, ... Cloning cells to fight cancer // Current
Cloning debate over! reply; flag. derk · derk; 5 months ago. that would be great if it was that simple...i would like to know, after all the funding and research was done and its a "go head" to cure SOME ppl's cancer...how much would ... humor Humor: Cloning Advantage Super Families
As the cloning debate of humankind continues we find ourselves in an interesting predicament. We see the need of self to extend past one's own lifetime as an innate characteristic; self-preservation has always been one of mankind's ...
|
|
|
|
