Cloning around
Ethical questions muddle issue

PRO

Dolly is a name most people are familiar with. Ever since this famous sheep was introduced in 1996, cloning has been a hot topic.

There have been many debates on whether cloning is ethical and whether scientists should be allowed to continue refining cloning methods.

New issues have recently come up because of an issue of Time magazine, where scientists said they are closer than ever to being able to clone a human being.

Cloning can be useful in medical research, the development of organs used in transplants and children.

People can wait on transplant lists for years, and in the end, never get the organ that may have saved their lives. With the development of cloning, this problem may now be eliminated. Doctors may now cross-test the patients’ blood and DNA to develop the organ a person needs.

In medical research, scientists could clone organs upon which to test various drugs instead of using humans as guinea pigs. With heart or diabetes medicines, testing on lab organs could save a person from life-long complications from medicines which are harmful to the body.

Cloning can also be helpful to infertile and same-sex couples wanting children and to people who have lost children in the past. This can be an option for people in contrast to adopting a child whose biological background they are unsure of.

CON

Cloning has been an ethical dilemma for years, especially since Dolly the Sheep was cloned in 1996. The question has since been posed: To what extent should humans experiment with the creation of life?

Genetic selection — through which parents can choose the baby’s gender and even physical characteristics — is one thing. But when cloning is considered an acceptable practice, mankind has taken science a step too far.

Supporters of cloning argue it can save lives and allow infertile and homosexual couples to have biological children. But there are many babies who need to be adopted, and the world is already overpopulated.

Scientists are working on a way to clone organs for transplants. Instead of cloning, we should encourage organ and tissue donation. When TCU student Ana Catalina Calderon died after a car wreck last month, her organs and tissues went to 47 people.

One goal of cloning is to enhance people’s lives by helping them live longer and healthier. According to research by the World Health Organization, the average life expectancy for babies born in 1999 in America is 70 years. America ranked 24th out of 191 countries, while Japan ranked first with an average life span of 74.5 years. With the international population growing, it’s best to let the life cycle take its course.

There is also the question about whether cloned organs would actually perform the way they are supposed to. The research into cloning is still too new to determine how safe and reliable it really is. Sure, practice makes perfect, but how many mistakes will have to be made before success?

The advancement of cloning research needs to proceed carefully. Limits need to be placed on what is cloned. Not only can cloning lead to multiple persons, it can also lead to multiple problems.

FINAL WORD

While the Skiff editorial board couldn’t reach a consensus regarding the question of whether or not to continue cloning research, we did find a middle ground on the use of cloning. Whether cloning becomes legal, outside of medical research or not, precautions still need to be taken to make sure cloning is used only in appropriate ways.

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