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The
way technological knowledge in the world is
growing from day to day, there is no way to
predict where science may lead us in the near
future. Just a few years ago, the concept of
cloning was something fictional that scientist
thought about but never seriously considered it a
main form of experiment. But now cloning is one of
the most controversial topics. Cloning is the
process of making a genetically identical organism
through nonsexual means. It all started with the
first cloned mammal back in 1997, Dolly the sheep.
Dolly sparked a genetic revolution all the world
and from that time onward the interest of cloning
raised exponentially. And maybe after few years
later, science will reach such a height that
cloning human beings will be easy as drinking a
cup of tea. But before we take that huge leap we
need to ask ourselves that whether the idea of
cloning humans is a beneficial or a destructive
one for the society?
The
list of complaints about cloning begins with the
fact that cloning humans decreases the value of
uniqueness of the individual. According to ABC
News, “About 87 percent oppose cloning humans,
and 93 percent don’t want to be cloned
themselves” (Rembert). With statistics that
strong, it clearly proves public’s opposition to
the cloning of humans. John Colvin, a writer for
The Humanist magazine, says that if cloning is
used frequently in our society, “…human
biodiversity will be diminished and human
evolution will cease” (Colvin). People will look
the same, act in a similar way and their genes
will also be more or less the same and the
evolution to the human race will come to a stop.
Fr.Frank Pavone, a well-respected writer, feels
that clones would also fell less of human beings
because “value is intimately tied to
uniqueness” (Pavone). If people were being
cloned one after the other, then there wouldn’t
be much diversity in the society. This will also
diminish the value of uniqueness. The following
picture shows the fact that human beings have
evolved through the ages but with the advent of
human cloning, the process of evolution has
stopped and the uniqueness of the human beings are
lost.
Among
those 13 percent people who agree with the idea of
human cloning may argue by saying that cloning
beneficial in many ways. For example cloning may
have the advantage of issuing talents and human
receive genetically. Cloning an adult who is
musically talented may result in a cloned child,
who is equally good in music. In this way the
society would be enriched with talented people.
But on the other hand there is also a huge amount
of possibility of cloning a dictator or a criminal
who can be dangerous to the entire society. Dr.
Patrick Dixon who is opposed to human cloning
raises a question saying, “What would Hitler
have done with cloning technology if available in
the 1940’s?”(Dixon). He continues saying that
“There are powerful leaders in every generation
who will seek to abuse this technology for their
own purposes”. Nobody knows the number of
criminals, waiting for the announcement of human
cloning. So according to our common sense what is
better, to have a talented musician in our society
or not to have another dozen tyrants like Hitler
and Stalin who are capable of destroying the whole
world? The following picture shows one of the most
harmful effects of cloning. The picture signifies
that human cloning may result in the making of
another thousand of Bin Laden who can destroy the
whole world.
People
also argue saying that human cloning is
advantageous in the sense that a couple who
can’t have baby by biological means can
contribute a cell from their body and can have a
cloned child. This is a myth that people think to
be a positive aspect of human cloning because
there is a high chance that the cloned baby will
not be normal. It may have some disorder and
complications during birth or it may have problem
related to cloning process later in his or her
life. There is also a risk of cell aging. As
described by Dr. Patrick Dixon, “The technique
is extremely risky right now. A particular worry
is the possibility that the genetic material used
from the adult will continue to age so that the
genes in a newborn baby clone could be-say-30
years old or more on the day of birth”. Many
attempts to clone animals produced scary results
with disfigured monsters. A cloned baby might look
normal during birth but as time progresses
complications may start showing up. So we might
have to wait for 20 years to find what is wrong in
the child. There are various such instances where
the experiment was a failure as pointed out by Dr.
Dixon “A cloned cow recently died several weeks
after birth with a huge abnormality of blood cell
production. Dolly the Sheep died prematurely of
severe lung disease in February 2003, and also
suffered from arthritis at an unexpectedly early
age-probably linked to the cloning process”. So
according to me it’s better not to have a child
instead of giving birth to a monster or a cripple
who is going to suffer the rest of his life. This
is unethical to give birth to someone and let him
suffer all through his life. The following picture
strongly focuses on the fact that cloning may
result in various health complications, and the
child may be born with severe disabilities.
Another
huge case against cloning is the emotional effect
on the clone, for example a cloned child would in
effect be a twin of one of his parents, which
could lead to serious emotional difficulties. Dr.
Dixon clarified this complicated situation by
saying, “A child grows up knowing her mother is
her sister, her grandmother is her mother. Her
father is her brother-in-law. Every time her
mother looks at her she is seeing herself growing
up. Unbearable pressures on a teenager trying to
establish his or her identity.” This is a
serious problem as the clone gets frustrated very
easily resulting in pressures on the emotional
development of the child. This is yield harmful
result including suicides and other violent
behaviors.
Human
cloning would have yielded fruitful results and
would have been considered the one of the greatest
discoveries if the world was perfect, free of
criminals and only made up of good and innocent
people. But that is not he case. We stay in a
world full of gray shades and the numbers of
criminals are much higher than that of innocent
people. So as per as present situation is
concerned, Human Cloning will produce devastating
results. So in brief it may be concluded that
cloning can affect our society drastically. Some
type of law needs to be passed and put into effect
as soon as possible stating that cloning of human
beings is wrong and illegal so that our society is
saved from the evil effects of cloning and we can
lead a normal and better life.
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