The Ethics of Human Cloning
The first woman created by God was Eve, says the Bible, and the first woman created by cloning is … Eve again, say scientists! This news, true or not, confirms that science has thoroughly permeated into our routines. Mere speculations have turned to reality. Today, the aspects of human cloning, what human clones actually are, the misconceptions we hold about them and most importantly, its ethics are worth understanding. The debates for and against the technology emphasize that human cloning is something we cannot afford to miss notice of.
Human cloning can be used for both therapeutic and reproductive purposes. Therapeutic cloning is popularly called ‘Stem Cell Therapy’, whereby embryos are created with the purpose of mining out the stem cells. This medical breakthrough of the century will be a boon for a number of disorders and organ transplantation.
There are misconceptions regarding human cloning. People believe that it will become possible to produce hordes of Ladens or Hitlers or retrieve a beloved person who has long been dead. However, scientists wave off this suggestion as purely irrational. They say that cloning requires ‘live DNA’ and it is impossible to produce a clone of the deceased unless the corpse was preserved by some means and some living cells are still available and usable. Moreover, the clone is a unique person with unique talents, nature and intelligence and in some rare instances may not even physically resemble the original cent per cent, as researchers have observed that the genetic expression is influenced by environment and experiences.
The million dollar question is – ‘Is clone an offspring or a sibling?’ Such ambiguities as ‘father or brother?’, ‘mother or sister?’ will embed people in a sea of controversies regarding individuality – the primary characteristic of a human. Dr. Patrick Dixon, a leading expert of the ethics of human cloning says that people are obsessed with their own right to have a clone without any regard to the welfare of the child. Human cloning is ethically unnecessary and immoral and is described as tinkering with nature.
Does this mean we should lock up our cloning laboratories? Not so. The merits are too good to be ignored. Technologies like cloning have to be harnessed for good ends. And if we could balance both sides, we can reap rewards not imagined. It is going to be a boon for science and society.
The world of human cloning lies before us. Only, we should know the rules before stepping in.
The first woman created by God was Eve, says the Bible, and the first woman created by cloning is … Eve again, say scientists! This news, true or not, confirms that science has thoroughly permeated into our routines. Mere speculations have turned to reality. Today, the aspects of human cloning, what human clones actually are, the misconceptions we hold about them and most importantly, its ethics are worth understanding. The debates for and against the technology emphasize that human cloning is something we cannot afford to miss notice of.
Human cloning can be used for both therapeutic and reproductive purposes. Therapeutic cloning is popularly called ‘Stem Cell Therapy’, whereby embryos are created with the purpose of mining out the stem cells. This medical breakthrough of the century will be a boon for a number of disorders and organ transplantation.
There are misconceptions regarding human cloning. People believe that it will become possible to produce hordes of Ladens or Hitlers or retrieve a beloved person who has long been dead. However, scientists wave off this suggestion as purely irrational. They say that cloning requires ‘live DNA’ and it is impossible to produce a clone of the deceased unless the corpse was preserved by some means and some living cells are still available and usable. Moreover, the clone is a unique person with unique talents, nature and intelligence and in some rare instances may not even physically resemble the original cent per cent, as researchers have observed that the genetic expression is influenced by environment and experiences.
The million dollar question is – ‘Is clone an offspring or a sibling?’ Such ambiguities as ‘father or brother?’, ‘mother or sister?’ will embed people in a sea of controversies regarding individuality – the primary characteristic of a human. Dr. Patrick Dixon, a leading expert of the ethics of human cloning says that people are obsessed with their own right to have a clone without any regard to the welfare of the child. Human cloning is ethically unnecessary and immoral and is described as tinkering with nature.
Does this mean we should lock up our cloning laboratories? Not so. The merits are too good to be ignored. Technologies like cloning have to be harnessed for good ends. And if we could balance both sides, we can reap rewards not imagined. It is going to be a boon for science and society.
The world of human cloning lies before us. Only, we should know the rules before stepping in.
(Originally published on Feb 10, 2003)
- Nivedita M Shori
1 comment:
Cloning is science's attempt to replicate "creation" from its own intelligent element (DNA) to harness its purity and perfection in order to heal and repair abnormailities and aberrations of living organisms.
Of course, as 'Creation" is boundless, so might any of its relicas; that portends the possibility of cloning an entire human being. Does that amount to stepping on the "creator's" domain?
Whereas the "Creator" is by definition the purest being with Truth and Love at its core, the "clone creator" is a human being dominated by "ego" and greed and fear in its core. That's what raises the question of ethic.
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