(Will human
cloning make a type of black market for embryos could easily someday develop?)
Parents already spend a great deal of money on in vitro fertilization, and who
knows how much they would be willing to pay for cloning their children? The
question as to what cloning would do to society from both the moral and economic
standpoints comes to the conclusion that for the most part cloning is too
expensive and too dangerous. In the religous circles the question of human
cloning has stirred debate. Rev. Robert A. Martin states: It appears that from
the beginning God reserved for Himself the right to create living souls. I
understand that the philosophy of modern psychiatry is to teach that human
beings are soulless, therefore we are just flesh and blood which can only
respond to the environment with no ability to make conscious decisions for
itself. In other words people are no differnet than animals to be used and
manipulaated. Thus, there is, from the beginnging, a fundamental difference
between what the Bible teaches and what psychiatry teaches. This being the case,
it is little wonder then, that some people assume the prerogative of playing the
role of god. (http://www.user.shentel.net/ramartin/applied/cloning.htm)
Embryonic cloning could be a valuable tool for the studying of human
development, genetically modifying embryos, and investigating new transplant
technologies. Using cloning to produce offspring for the sake of their organs is
an issue that we must also face and question whether or not it is morally right.
No one will say that it is okay to kill a human being for the sake of their
organs. But will many have no objection to cloning thousands of individuals for
the sake of organ transplants? Technology seems to take away many of the morals
that we have worked so hard to install in society. Most people only seem to want
to cater to their own needs and do not bother to consider the consequences that
society and the clone may have to face. With the issue of parents' involvement
in cloning, Ruth Macklin, writes, Perhaps a grieving couple whose child is
dying. This might seem psychologically twisted. But a cloned child born to such
dubious parents stands no greater or lesser chance of being loved, or rejected,
or warped than a child normally conceived. Infertile couples are also likely to
seek out cloning. That such couples have other options (in vitro fertilization
or adoption) is not an argument for denying them the right to clone. Or consider
an example raised by Judge Richard Posner: a couple in which the husband has
some tragic genetic defect. Currently, if this couple wants a genetically
related child, they have four not altogether pleasant options.
They can
reproduce naturally and risk passing on the disease to the child. They can go to
a sperm bank and take a chance on unknown genes. They can try in vitro
fertilization and dispose of any afflicted embryo--though that might be
objectionable, too. Or they can get a male relative of the father to donate
sperm, if such a relative exists. This is one case where even people unnerved by
cloning might see it as not the worst option. (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/).
Should we be excited at the prospect of cloning? No more nasty surprises like
sickle cell or Down syndrome-just batch after batch of high-grade and,
genetically speaking, immortal offspring! Cloning from an already existing adult
is a second method that we must consider when discussing the cloning of humans.
This type of cloning would no doubt be a very controversial issue any way that
it is looked at, but it is necessary to understand the two ways that it could be
done if we were to clone humans. Unlike the process of cloning embryos, cloning
from already existing humans allows one to know exactly what their clone will
look like ahead of time. Before the clone is actually produced, the parents or
the individual's clone will know exactly what to expect in their offspring as
far as looks go. Personality and other factors cannot be certain, but it is
stated that if the clone is observed carefully and compared with its other
clones, many similarities will automatically arise. Cloning among adults is less
obtainable than embryonic cloning, but it seems to cause just as much
controversy. Embryonic cloning has not been successful yet, as far as we know.
We do know, however, that cloning from an already existing human may effectively
work in the near future. In a movie called, The Boys from Brazil, two clones of
Hitler are supposedly produced from a cell obtained containing Hitler's genes.
This cell was in turn joined with an egg, and an embryo was formed containing
solely the genes of Hitler with only the necessary ones from the woman. This
science fiction-like experiment was done for many reasons, but it was mostly
intended to test the clones' behavior away from one another and to see if any
certain kind of attitude can be passed on from one clone to another. The boys in
this movie seem to demonstrate this concept through their slight displays of
Hitlers personality traits even after being raised apart with totally different
lifestyles. Although, this idea of cloning seems feasible, it is not very
logical with today's level of technology. A cell from a nonreproductive part of
one's body cannot be taken and used in place of a reproductive cell like sperm.
