Essay on "Ethics of Human Cloning Two"

Essay 5 pages (1464 words) Sources: 5 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Queries linger as to the enduring physical health and probable premature aging of clones such as the sheep. NBAC concluded in its report that such safety queries necessitated a suspension on experiments involving human cloning.

Premature aging and safety issues surrounding cloning are technical barricades that may or not fail as the intelligence of cloning advances. Numerous people have raised moral objections to human cloning that extend beyond questions of well-being (Dudley, 2001 p. 34).The art of cloning contravenes basic and pertinent religious beliefs and conceptions on how reproduction in humans ought to occur. Some people fear that the art cloning could result in dismantled and unclear family relationships.

Additional ethical queries concentrate on intentions behind human cloning and whether some explanations are acceptable than the rest. For example, people may deem it moral for a married couple at risk of reproducing a child with genetic abnormalities to clone a healthy parent. It is questionable whether it is moral for a couple to clone and produce a child because the father desires an exact replica of himself. It is also questionable if parents would clone cells of their dead child to obtain a replacement. Some people question the society's role in delving into reproductive affairs of individuals by restricting cloning (Dudley, 2001 p. 50).

The principle that forms the foundation for numerous human cloning disagreements is the declaration by the philosopher Kant that human beings ought to receive treatment as ends in themselves and not mere means to an end. The starkest utilization of such reasoning is the issue of human cloning to offer organs for transplantation into the donor devoid of fear of rejection (Messer, 2001 p. 12). Cloning advocates defend the utilization of fetuses and embryos while others dismiss such practices as farfetched. Many would concur that forming a human clone of a person as a source of grafts is a stark violation of Kant's claims.

Some persons go further and purport that cloning by any means and for whatever purpose violates Kant's opinion on some level since a manufactured clone would wonder expecting what type of person they would become. O'Connor, the retired Catholic archbishop affirmed that there is an immense ethical disparity between naturally reproducing a child and designing a child. It means that the naturally born child is a blessing while the clone child is a manufactured, a product that is not appreciated but merely priced for its service. Bioethicists such as Macklin refute the argument and claim that people would still treat and love clones as they treat the rest (MacKinnon, 2001 p. 150).

Enthusiasts of human cloning affirm that the foremost negative reaction is an ordinary human response to anything new that is unknown (Messer, 2001 p. 22). Human cloning supporters further compare human cloning to other induced reproductive methods such as in vitro fertilization. When the notion of removing a woman's ovary out the uterus, artificially fertilizing it and placing it back into the womb came up in the 1970 epoch, numerous people argued that the practice was unnatural and disconcerting and wondered how test tube children would develop psychologically and socially (Dudley, 2001 p. 22). Contemporarily, in vitro fertilization is acceptable to most people as an option for infertile couples to get their own children. Cloning enthusiasts claim that reactions towards cloning will go through a similar evolution and the process shall be acceptable as an alternative method for unviable people who wish to have their own children.

It is intricate to predict what the future has for the new cloning technology. The ethics groups will continue their deliberation on the matters and governments will undoubtedly decide on their stipulations regarding the issue. If human cloning does not continue, the initial rate of success will not be high. Regardless of whether cloning of human beings shall or shall not be as acceptable and common as in vitro fertilization, it is succinctly predictable that the ethical debate regarding human cloning may not subside soon. Though human cloning is in various ways continuous with reproductive technology, it also embodies a new prospect that is unique and has foreseeable repercussions.

Bibliography

Dudley, W. (2001) The Ethics of Human Cloning, San Diego: GREENHAVEN PressINC.

Kass, L. (2002) Human Cloning and Human Dignity: The Report of the President's Council on Bioethics, Jackson: Public Affairs Publishers.… READ MORE

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