Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Human Reproductive Cloning Pt. 2


In the last post, we discussed the background history of reproductive cloning, basic scientific knowledge, cloning techniques, and the purpose of reproductive cloning. In this post, I will focus on the pros and cons of human reproductive cloning, as well as the ethical issues associated with it.

 


 

Pros of Human Reproductive Cloning

 

1.    It can eliminate defective genes

·               Scientists believe that genetic illness can one day be a leading cause of death. When humans are reproduced, it damages their DNA lines, which creates defective and mutated genes. This problem could be resolved my cloning healthy human cells.

2.    The “Next Step” in Reproductive technology

·               Couples who are infertile, would be giving the chance to produce clones of themselves. Couples who have lost children, could be given a chance to replace their loved ones. While also people who are considered to be a “genius” could be cloned, so they world has more people who think the way they do.

3.    Can eliminate infertility

·               Infertility could be eliminated because scientists would be able to take cloned cells to create a younger twin of a father or a mother. Infertile couple would not have to go through the depression stage of not having children. They would be able to have their own families without enduring painful procedures to treat infertility.

4.    It can cure disorders

·               It can help cure certain disorders by replacing damaged tissues and organs within the human body. Scientist believe that human cloning can completely transform the way many disorders are being performed.

 

Cons of Reproductive Cloning

 

1.    It can reduce individuality

·               Although human clones would have their own brand new set of life, researchers believe you still loss a sense of having your own individual personality.

2.    It can cause a divide among people

·               Human reproductive cloning could potentially divide people, normal people from “perfect” people. It could create a societal division where “perfect” clones can be treated in a different way than those who are naturally born.  

3.    It has a lot of failure

·               90% of human cloning attempts have been labeled as a “failure” meaning the DNA is put at risk during the attempt. Human DNA can be contaminated. The implications of what happens with the Reproductive process when it goes wrong, is still unclear. This is not good and could lead to problems that are not able to be resolved.

 

Ethical Issues

 

·               Some people who have religious beliefs are against the process of cloning humans. They believe that it results in man becoming the creator instead of the higher power. Most people who value their religious belief disagree with this technology.
 

·               People also say that a clone is not a “real person”, the clone is not “natural” and the clone is “playing the God”


·               Another ethical issue is health risks to the mother. Telemetric differences can occur, as well as abnormal gene expression patterns. 98% of mammalian cloning has resulted in miscarriages, stillbirths and deformities. Safety in reproductive cloning would also result in unethical experimentation of women.

 

There are also several other ethical issues associated with human reproductive cloning. Below is a debate discussing human reproductive cloning.

 

 

1 comment:

  1. I do think the "individuality" issue is kind of a red herring, unless someone's planning to churn out batches of clones to staff an army or something. We're all differently stamped by our respective experience. Identical twins have much in common, that we notice... but much more not, that we tend not to notice.

    The medical applications of this technology, and the possibility for doing good, are too great to ignore.

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