The Pros and Cons of Reproductive Cloning
Reproductive cloning has sparked heated debates of morals and ethics among the scientific world and the population in general. It is the process of making an exact copy of a person, using embryos. So you could clone yourself, but they would start out as a an infant. This breakthrough in science has nearly come to the point that it is a very real reality, but what are the real issues? Animals have already been successfully cloned, 18 of them in fact, but the idea or proposal of cloning a human is overwhelmingly opposed. Let’s take a deeper look at what the issues truly are.
The Pros of Reproductive Cloning
1. Couples That Can’t Conceive
Many people have fertility problems in the world, and this can be absolutely devastating for many that deeply want to have children. Reproductive cloning would make it possible for them to have biological children of their own. This is also true with gay or lesbian couples that don’t want to have to use a donor egg or sperm.
2. Endangered Species
Animals that are near extinction can be cloned in order to save their species. This would also make it possible to bring back species that have already gone extinct in the world, giving scientists a much better understanding of how they lived before.
3. Returned Loved Ones
Families that have lost a child or loved one could possible have them returned to them through the use of reproductive cloning. This is one of the most controversial topics regarding this process.
4. Legends Never Die
People that made large impacts on the world, such as musicians, scientists, or philosophers could be brought back to the world through cloning. This would allow them to continue their work and further benefit the world.
5. Back Up Organs
If every single person had themselves cloned, then the need for organ donors would be gone. People die everyday waiting for a donor organ to become available for them. With cloning, they could already have backups just in case.
6. Medical Research
The process of cloning would greatly increase scientists understanding of human genetics and the way that genes work. This would help them to specify certain genes that cause illnesses, like cancer, and eradicate them before they develop.
The Cons of Reproductive Cloning
1. No Diversity
By cloning genes, identical ones are continually passed on. This would eventually lead to an extreme lack of diversity in the population. Everyone would start to look alike.
2. Confusing For Children
If children know that they could be replaced with an exact copy, then they may not feel valued or loved. This would also foster much confusion in the world for young children.
3. Genetic Defects
More than 90% of all attempted animal cloning was a failure because of mutations and defects that happened within the genes. This could easily become a problem with human cloning, and result in the development of new diseases and mutations in the human race.
4. Ethical Problems
The issue of religion plays a large part in the debate on cloning. Many people believe that God creates all living things, and that the clones would be an abomination of God because they were created by man. Other problems arise when you are dealing with human lives instead of animal’s lives.
5. Aging Problems
It is possible that the DNA that is placed in the embryo for cloning would have the age of the donor imprinted on it. This could cause severe problems in the clone, including rapid aging, because the body would try to identically match the donor.
