To Clone or not to clone

To Clone or not to clone

By: Ana
E-mail: [email protected]

To Clone Or Not To Clone Cloning is an issue that has been evolving during time. At the begining, cloning was been researched and was described as something that was hard to reach. Even science fiction movies, such as Multiplicity, were produced about cloning. As the time went through, cloning became a reality. In 1996 "Dolly", the first mammal, a sheep was born. Dolly was created by Ian Wilmut, an embryologist of the Rosling insitute ( World Book, http://www.worldbook.com ). Since then, many mammals, such as mice and calves were created. Right now, there is a fear, that humans might be the next to be cloned. Ruth macklin and Charles Krauthammer discuss this matter in two essays were they state whether cloning is right or wrong. Ruth Macklin, a professor of Bioethics, wrote an essay about this issue. "Human Cloning? Don't Just Say No" is the title of her article. Her essay discusses the negative response of the people to Human Cloning. As the title of the essay says: "Human Cloning? Don't Just Say No", Macklin believes that cloning deserves a chance to be developed in humans. Macklin talks about Human Clones not being accepted as human beings. She states that an ethicist said once, that human cloning would be a violation to "the right to genetic identity" (Perspectives of Contemporary Issues, pg. 508). Macklin doubts about the exsistence of this right. She explains many points about Human Cloning and about ethics. One of the points she mentiones, is about the violation to human dignity. Theologians say that cloning would be a violation to dignity and also that cloned humans would be treated with less respect than other human beings. Another issue she discusses is the fact that Human Clones could be used as human farms or organ donors. Macklin gives many examples about the cases where human cloning might be accepted. Mothers that can not have children, families that have children that are sick to death or also couples that may have genetic defects (Perspectives of Contemporary Issues, pg. 508). In conclusion, Macklin thinks, that human cloning should be accepted or at least an opportunity should been given to develop Human Cloning. On the other hand, Charles Krauthammer, the author of the second essay "Of Headless Mice.....And Men" is totally against Cloning in every way. His essay talks about the cloning that was made in mice. Researchers have been able to locate different genes and than delete some genes, just to see what comes out. They erased the clone that creates the head and produced headless mice that obviosly died when the were born. Krauthammer does not understand, how humans can create such type of mice. He talks about the chance of creating humans with no heads. He says, that the goal of these production of headless humans, could be kept as an organ farm. He also gives examples of Cloning, such as the possibility to create models, and...

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