Human Cloning

[KrazyGlue]

Is human cloning going to help society, or is it unfair to the cloned child? Let the debate begin!



Factors to consider:

-The welfare of the cloned child
-The possible benefits of cloning
-The accuracy of the procedure

 

[Rogue Pit]

Me being a sci-fi type of guy I always thought cloning was a cool futuristic type of thing. Although I actually can't seem to understand the benefits of cloning but for sheer knowledge and I guess testing for maybe medical effects. It would also cost large amounts of money and I don't believe it is actually worth it.

 

[Faithkeeper]

Factors to consider:

-The welfare of the cloned child
-The possible benefits of cloning
-The accuracy of the procedure

First we must all be clear on the process of cloning:

Human somatic cell nuclear transfer, otherwise known (somewhat inaccurately) as creating an embryo by “cloning,” involves:


* The starvation and subsequent implantation of DNA from specialized, non-sexual cells of one organism (e.g., cells specialized to make that organism’s hair or milk) into an egg whose DNA nucleus has been removed.
* The resulting egg and nucleus are shocked or chemically treated so that the egg begins to behave as though fertilization has occurred, resulting in the beginning of embryonic development of a second organism containing the entire genetic code of the first organism.

Mammalian cloning, through this nuclear transfer process, has resulted in the birth of hundreds of organisms to date. However, significantly more nuclear transfer generated embryos fail during pregnancy than would fail in sexual reproduction, and a substantial majority of cloned animals who have survived to birth have had some significant birth defect.

Reproduction, or perhaps more accurately, replication of an organism’s DNA identity does not normally occur in mammals, with the exception of twinning, which always results in the simultaneous birth of siblings. Only plants reproduce through replication from one generation to another. The prospect of such replication for humans has resulted in the most controversial debate about reproduction ever to be taken up in western civilization.

I see human cloning going two directions. For making "people" and for medical uses. (such as testing and parts) I will address each one separately.



Section One: Making "People"

The Welfare of the Cloned Child
This should be pretty straight forward. With modern ethics, the cloned individual should have all the rights given to any citizen of their country of origin. (Where they were cloned) Since we are talking about a conscious, sentient being here, I see little debate in this aspect.

The Possible Benefits of Cloning
Since this clone would have full human rights, I see little use to cloning.

Because of experience with animal clones, it is reasonable to conclude that future human cloning experiments will have the same high failure rates.

Perhaps enlarging the work force, but this is fairly illogical considering that the substantial majority of clones of animals have defects, and that the trend can be expected to continue in humans, and many of those wouldn't make great workers due to birth .

The Accuracy of the Procedure

However, significantly more nuclear transfer generated embryos fail during pregnancy than would fail in sexual reproduction, and a substantial majority of cloned animals who have survived to birth have had some significant birth defect.

That pretty much sums it up. At this point, cloning is not very efficient, and with the high rates of death and birth defects, one could argue that these would infringe the rights of the baby being cloned.

Spoiler

(Although I am not going to argue that point at this time [if at all])

Section Two: Cloning for Medicinal Purposes

This is the more common projected use in the scientific world, for obvious reasons... it has more use.

The Welfare of the Cloned Child
This too should be pretty straight forward. This is the point that is always brought up in abortion debate, and I will attempt to keep it there for now. When is an embryo "alive"? At the point that the embryo would be used, it has not functioning brain or anything along those lines. It is not conscious nor sentient. I applaud individuals with a high regard for life I share these sentiments, but this isn't "wasting a life" it would be used to save another. Also, from a purely empirical view, this embryo is not yet truly a human yet and has no rights.

The Possible Benefits of Cloning

The potential benefits of therapeutic cell cloning are enormous, ...

While the cost is still relatively high, how do you put a price on life? If an individual decides to get the treatment, it is his or her own choice, and the cost really should not be an issue of debate to those who aren't the patient. Not to mention that extended research (as history shows us) will likely find more efficient means of cloning. Other known and reputable sites that speak of just how beneficial human cloning can be include:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/753838.stm
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/smith200406040953.asp
http://www.forbes.com/2001/11/26/1126cloning.html

The Accuracy of the Procedure

Because of experience with animal clones, it is reasonable to conclude that future human cloning experiments will have the same high failure rates.

Not really much to address here, We can assume that more efficient ways to clone will be found, but exactly how much more efficient or when is really up in the air at this point, only time will tell.



Section Three: Conclusions

As for the reason addressed in section one, while I see no great reason for it, if individuals want a clone for themselves or are using it as an answer to infertility, I think it should be legal. Although I would hope that more research be done on animals to find a more efficient way of cloning in humans, for both ethical and financial reasons. (human cloning is more expensive than animal cloning)

Researchers working with animals don't have to worry about getting enough eggs. Cow eggs, for instance, can be bought cheaply from slaughterhouses that would otherwise discard them. For a recent paper on cloning in Science, Peter Mombaerts, a scientist at Rockefeller University in New York City who clones mice, ran through 4,000 mouse oocytes--he estimates that might be $2,000 worth of mice. Doing the same work in humans, he estimates, could cost $2 million.

I have come to the same conclusion to the situation addressed in section two.

Spoiler

(Note that all conclusions are based on a purely empirical viewpoint and do not necessarily reflect my personal views)

 

[2001]

I see human cloning going two directions. For making "people" and for medical uses. (such as testing and parts) I will address each one separately.

Uhhhhh yea. Since when is "making people" one of the reasons for clone research? Last time I checked the world had enough people. What are they making clones to be used as slaves or something?

Medical uses. Your right, cloning is for medical uses. But testing? Parts? Be more specific. And where did you hear that they are conducting clone research for human body parts? Unless that's not what you mean, I couldn't tell.

The whole purpose of cloning is to help understand humans DNA. To understand how DNA works, and why some people have a certain gene that causes cancer while others don't.


Anyways,
-The welfare of the cloned child
-The possible benefits of cloning
-The accuracy of the procedure

Well first of all they will not be create a human clone anytime soon. There is not enough support because there is nowhere near enough research done already. That brings me to the accuracy of the procedure. "Dolly the sheep" was a successful clone out of over 250 attempts. What do you think the results for a human would be?

The only thing I like about cloning is that it could have awsome results. It could totally help decode DNA and understand every gene there is, but there is already a better, more accurate project going on. The human genome project is practically complete and doesnt gaurantee massive failures in the field of cloning.

I think we should just stick to the human genome project and analyze our own genes until we have enough information to start thinking about human cloning. It's just too early.

 

[Palpi]

They have already successfully cloned a lamb or something. It did turn out to get many diseases because of its faulty immune system though.

Rogue made a valid point. What could be gained from cloning a human without violating its personal rights.

Sure a cloned super army would be nice but the thing is, scientists are no where near seeing what genes influence what traits. They know what area of gene's, but making a clone with specific genes is a bit ahead of our time.

Once we are able to grow organs from stem-cells, who needs cloning?

 

[Xivii]

Heh.