Cloning may be ‘God’s will’
Government needs to embrace coming of genetic engineering, not stifle it

Time magazine reported last week that a consensus of biotechnology specialists concluded that within a few years — possibly even a few months — scientists will announce the cloning of the first human being.

In fact, a well-known infertility specialist from the University of Kentucky, Panayiotis Zavos, and Italian researcher Severino Antinori announced their collaboration to create the first human clone just last month.

These two men may have their work cut out for them. South Korean researchers already claim to have created a human embryo (which they said they later destroyed) and a religious group called the Raelians, boasting that they have both the lab and scientists, plan on cloning the cells of a 10-month-old baby who died during an operation.

The only thing that can be said for sure about the possible success by the Raelians, or any of the other groups for that matter, is the inevitability that human cloning is quite possibly the most controversial topic in the history of the world.

Human cloning is a bad idea in the eyes of 90 percent of Americans who responded to a Time/CNN poll last week. Some cite religious beliefs, interference in human individuality, fear of a superior race and dangerous technologies as reasons they do not support the advancements.

But on the other side of the spectrum you find people who feverishly support plans to clone humans. You find women who face early menopause, men left impotent by cancer, gays yearning to have children of their own and parents so grief stricken by the death of a child that they have had difficulty moving on with their lives.

Zavos told Time, “Ethics is a wonderful word, but we need to look beyond the ethical issues here. It’s not an ethical issue. It’s a medical issue. We have a duty here. Some people need this to complete the life cycle, to reproduce.”

Point well taken, yet members of religious organizations will argue Zavos that it was “God’s will” to create those individuals unable to reproduce.
So who’s to say that it isn’t “God’s will” to create clones. After all, he would be the creator of the creators, right?
Well, that is a point that will be left up to someone much more powerful than those arguing the idea.
Scientists and ethicists believe it will be hard to form opinions until after such time that a human is cloned.

here is simply too much that is unknown about the effects cloning will have on an individual. Will the child be healthy? Will it live a normal life? What if the newborn’s cells show signs of early aging like Dolly the sheep? How many attempts will parents make before they create a child?

The questions are endless and unfortunately most are unanswerable at this time.

Yet the questions should not be left unexplored.

People who believe that cloning is the only way for them to have a child, or those wishing to preserve a little bit of a person they know, perhaps a mother or a grandmother, deserve the chance to pursue the advancements of cloning.

The choice to reproduce is entirely a private choice, not one to be voted on and judged by others. Just as women wishing to have an abortion have the right to end a pregnancy, people interested in creating a child should have every opportunity to do so.

Furthermore, the government should not restrict such research, but instead embrace it. Already, California, Louisiana, Michigan and Rhode Island have banned human cloning and Texas is expected to do so later this spring.

This is an incredible injustice to the residents of these states who should not be told whether or not they are allowed to have children, even if that means creating one in the likes of themselves.

Four years ago, cloning was a startling reality in the animal world. Today, it is in the apparent future of the human race. It’s time to cautiously embrace this phenomenon and look forward to what it will bring.

Opinion Editor James Zwilling is a sophomore news-editorial journalism major from Phoenix.
He can be reached at (j.g.zwilling@student.tcu.edu).

Editorial policy: The content of the Opinion page does not necessarily represent the views of Texas Christian University. Unsigned editorials represent the view of the TCU Daily Skiff editorial board. Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent the opinion of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board.

Letters to the editor: The Skiff welcomes letters to the editor for publication. Letters must be typed, double-spaced, signed and limited to 250 words. To submit a letter, bring it to the Skiff, Moudy 291S; mail it to TCU Box 298050; e-mail it to skiffletters@tcu.edu or fax it to 257-7133. Letters must include the author’s classification, major and phone number. The Skiff reserves the right to edit or reject letters for style, taste and size restrictions.