HUMAN CLONING "And the lord god formed man from the dust off the ground and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and ma became a living soul. The lord god then took one of his ribs and closed
up his flesh instead thereof and with the nb from which the lord god had taken from man he created
woman" Is cloning necessary for advancements in improving the quality of life? People often question
whether or not we as a scientific nation are trying to play the role of god by the diverse issue of human
cloning Early in 1997 Scottish scientist lan Wilmut revealed to the world that he had successfully cloned
an adult sheep, known to the world as Dolly. With this invention the world made a collective gasp at the
realization that cloning was no longer an element of a science fiction movie. Since then the cloning of
human beings has been one of the most largely debated topics in the world. From the schoolhouse to
the White House discussions have begun regarding the ethical implications of cloning In several recent
polls by Time magazine (The Ethics of Human Cloning 1998) it was shown that 75% of the responding
population thought that human cloning was a bad idea Furthermore, 74% of the respondents believed
that cloning was against gods' will, and when asked if they would clone themselves if presented with an
opportunity, 91% responded with no However when asked to define human cloning an estimated 95%
could not do it correctly Opponents of human cloning often argue that it is immoral and unethical to
clone human beings for both religious and humanitarian reasons Moreover others describe human
cloning as a luxury for the wealthy and as a tool for the Organ Market Development Conversely, I feel
that cloning is immoral and a bad idea for the following reasons. First of all cloning may reduce genetic
variability Producing many clones runs the risk of creating a population that is entirely the same This
population would be susceptible to the same diseases That means that one disease could devastate an
entire population One could easily picture the human race being wiped out by a single virus. However,
less drastic but more probable events could occur from lack of genetic diversity For example, if a large
percent of the nation cattle population are clones, a particular strain of mad cow disease could affect
the entire population The result could be catastrophic food shortages If human identical clones are
made and disease strikes, what could we do to stop it from devastating our entire population? How
many people would have to suffer and die for the sake of technology? Second, cloning is currently a very
expensive process. It requires large amounts of money and biological expertise. It took ian Wilmut and
his associates 277 tries to successfully create Dolly Since then a new cloning technique has been created
that is proven to be more reliable Although, even this technique has a 2% to 3% success rate How much
money would the United States be willing to spend on this project? Money that could otherwise be
spent on things such as social security, Medicare, defense, roads, education, and towards our
environment Any research would eventually need to be tested on human beings The ability to clone
humans may lead to the genetic tailoring of offspring it is conceivable that a scientist will be able to
determine a baby's eye and hair color In most cases even the baby's gender, or its resistance to a certain
disease Last but not least, let it be known that a clone is not an exact replica of another, it is simply a
delayed identical twin. As with an identical twin the clone would have a different sel of fingerprints
Scientists are concerned with the medical masks and uncertainty associated with the cloning of humans.
Because clones are derived from an already existing adult cell, it has older genes One fear is that if a
baby is cloned, its chromosomes would match that of the donors Meaning that a 5-year-old would look
like a 10-year-old and a 10-year-old would look like a 20-year-old, with potential for heart disease and
cancer to develop Will the clones life expectancy be shorter? Don't ask me, I don't know. Yet, neither do
the scientists that are pushing to create them Of all the things that cloning might be used for, it could be
used to create a genetic underclass that could be used as slaves in the years to come, or on a more
positive note it could be used to create humans with subnormal intelligence and above normal strength
that could someday rule the world. A person can not change what has happened in the past Although
they can influence what will happen in the future. If the United States government should decide to
legalize cloning the results on our nation could be catastrophic to the future generations of Amenca As I
previously mentioned, 91% of the responding population in Time magazine responded no to cloning
themselves Now for my pole, would you?