Cloning Dolly, the World\'s First Cloned Sheep,

Cloning

Dolly, the world's first cloned sheep, took the world by storm. Since her birth in 1997, the potential benefits and potential pitfalls have been debated by scientists, doctors, and bioethicists, with few clear breakthroughs. Most governments in Europe, Asia and North America have banned or significantly restricted research into human cloning. Animal cloning is also falling out of favor, as the exercise is expensive and as of yet, relatively unsuccessful. Cloning has put the religious communities into a tizzy as well, for cloning raises some complicated and troubling questions about the nature of life and the powers inherent in creating it. However, the science of cloning is still in its infancy. Plants have been cloned for thousands of years, but human and animal cloning could yield to great medical advancements and breakthroughs. Human cloning could serve as a healthy alternative to fertility drugs, and could lead to the development of viable tissues that can be used to repair abnormal or sickened parts of the body. Even animal cloning has the potential to assist medical technology by creating organs and tissues that can be used for health and healing. Nevertheless, there is something about the concept of cloning that makes people shudder. Perhaps Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is partly to blame for some of the negative connotations and fears surrounding cloning. Opponents of cloning claim ethical conundrums: cloned human beings might be treated as inferior to naturally born ones, and might also be born with defects or painful abnormalities. Cloning also amounts to "playing God," according to some detractors. Cloning failures are in fact one of the main reasons why more research should be done into perfecting the procedure. The potentially positive benefits of cloning for medical research outweigh the risks, which are mainly based on fear.

Three main reasons to promote research into human cloning include infertility research, medical research, and the general fostering of scientific inquiry. Banning research into cloning is unwise because scientists all over the world will continue to work in clandestine labs, using substandard and under-funded equipment. If the ban on cloning is lifted, scientists can more rapidly investigate the proper procedures for cloning while bioethicists can work out the public policy parameters for the applications of cloned organisms.

Infertility is an emotionally debilitating problem that affects many couples throughout the world. Because adoption procedures are strident and expensive, cloning should be examined as an alternative to infertility treatment programs. Infertility drugs often create problems of their own, and sometimes lead to abnormal births or multiple births which can economically tax the parents. According to Simon Smith of HumanCloning.org, "current infertility treatments are less than 10% successful. Couples go through physically and emotionally painful procedures for a small chance of having children. Many couples run out of time and money without successfully having children." Therefore, infertility is a major reason why more research should be done on human cloning.

On a related note, perfecting the cloning procedure would enable gay couples to become biological parents. Currently, gays are restricted from adopting children and are even prohibited from marrying in most states and countries. Cloning would allow gay and lesbian couples to have children and overcome some of the legal obstacles standing in their way.

One of the most promising applications of cloning is medical research. Through cloning, scientists can grow organs and tissues that can be transplanted into sick people. Spinal cord injuries, Down's syndrome, kidney, liver, and heart disease, and even cancer can be potentially cured through cloning. Cloning can also be used to heal severe burns or as an adjunct in plastic or reconstructive surgeries. Cloned body parts can serve in a variety of helpful capacities in this way, which would eliminate the ethical problems with cloning an entire human being just to harvest the organs. The ban on cloning might be cutting short the lives of many individuals who could be easily helped through the medical breakthroughs that cloning can offer.

Understandably, people are afraid that cloning could cause two main problems. First, the story of Dr. Frankenstein shows how cloned creatures could be imperfect, even monstrous. A cloned human might indeed be viewed and treated differently by his or her parents and peers. Furthermore, until cloning is perfected, there will be many sad victims of botched procedures. So far, many animals have died because the cloning process did not work properly. Other drawbacks of cloning include the abuse of the practice by people who would clone human beings just so that they could harvest organs; it would definitely be unethical to clone a human being only to keep it alive for organ harvesting purposes. Finally, cloning also raises important questions regarding the affordability of the procedure, for only wealthy people might be able to take advantage of cloning.