Should Humans Be Cloned?


This and other important questions are asked below.
Feel free to use the links to hit the areas you're most interested in.
From a Religious Perspective Is it Legal? Is it Scientifically Ethical? The Direction of New Laws

Please remember no one's opinion is more important than your own.
But if you want some other viewpoints here are some pages you might enjoy as well.
Cloning Ethics: informing others, before we go to far in cloning or banning it
CABI - Animal Cloning News: Dolly
Welcome to Clone World!!


A Time Magazine poll (March 10, 1997) reported that 74% of those asked believe it is against God's will to clone human beings. President Clinton has banned federal funds from being used for human cloning research, stating that, "Any discovery that touches upon human creation is not simply a matter of scientific inquiry, it is a matter of morality and spirituality as well... Each human life is unique, born of a miracle that reaches beyond laboratory science..."
But others argue in favor of continuing human cloning research, of continuing to clone human embryos and perhaps cloning adult humans in the future. Some arguments in favor of human cloning might include the fact that cloned human embryos would make research into genetics and genetically related diseases, and their treatments or preventions, much easier and cheaper. Cloning embryos could also facilitate the process of in-vitro fertilization, since the collection and replacement of ova is often painful and traumatic, and can be unsuccessful.
Embryo cloning is also seen as a potential treatment for infertility when in-vitro fertilization is not available, such as when parents are infertile, or when one or both parents harbors a genome coding for certain undesirable traits or diseases, or if the parents are homosexual couples. Cloned embryonic tissues might be used for the replacement of lost or diseased tissues.
Adult cloning might appeal to those who desire children/adults who are genetically identical to themselves, or genetically identical to someone who they love or admire. There may be many other, personal reasons why parents would want their children to be genetically identical to someone who is a non family member. Cloning could provide a genetically identical replacement for a lost loved one.
The belief here is that cloning can be justified as an expression of reproductive freedom of choice, a choice that should not be limited by legislation. However, it is important to remember that a genetic clone, although sharing an identical genome with their donor, will not be physically and behaviorally identical to their donor ! The clone will only be genetically identical to the donor . Their physical and behavioral characteristics will differ in many important and significant ways!

From a Religious Perspective Is it Legal? Is it Scientifically Ethical? The Direction of New Laws

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David Schneider, schned2@rpi.edu, http://www.rpi.edu/~schned2/index.html