Genetic Engineering Essay, Research Paper
After the introduction of the first cloned sheep, Dolly, it was not unexpected that intense discussions regarding the ethical issues surrounding human cloning would be raised. Cloning has been called both a medical benefit and a technological breakthrough. However, activists expressed anxiety and concern that the development might undermine the importance of human individuality, while raising concerns about unethical approach for further research. Heated debates concerning these matters exploded the issue into a worldwide frenzy. How are we, as members of the human race, suppose to live in a world where we are able to create mutant offspring and then “disemboweling it at our pleasure for spare parts?”
Our uniqueness determines our individuality and our special part in this beautifully diverse and ever-changing world. If human cloning were to continue and be widely accepted, then this trait of ours would be threatened. Human reproductive cloning is the same as ‘making replicas’ of ourselves, with each and every characteristic being identical. This act further breaks down our respect for human life, leading society to believe that “if it is possible to make copies…of individuals,” then all humans are ultimately disposable or replaceable. Since we are able to determine the life and characteristic of an individual, then God or whoever created the human race would have to relinquish his position as creator and pass it onto scientists.
Mankind has a tendency to ensure that all our technologies are used to its full advantage. But what about or morals? Do we have the right to create mutant headless mice and rabbits to perfect a process that would harm the natural status of the human evolution? If this is accomplished, what next, headless humanoids? With the technology in our hands, we can clone the appropriate body part to save patients waiting for a donor. All we need to do is find the gene controlling the development of the human head, erase it, then any newly born human bodies would have no forebrain therefore no “semblance of consciousness… thus it would be perfectly legal to keep them ‘alive’ as a source of organs.” But this would further demean the value of humanity to purposely create a “deformed and dying quasi-human life”, even if it would be to try and save another being. Statistics show that during the ‘Dolly’ process, from 277 eggs, several deformed fetuses were produced and only one egg progressed normally. That is a 1/277 chance of “success” and with the technology still in its infancy, unacceptably high risks of death or gross defects can be expected in new infants. We cannot take this morally unacceptable chance to create monsters.
Human cloning poses a threat to both current and future generations. Surely over the years that mankind has walked the earth, natural changes in our autonomy have allowed us to become the beings we are. But what would happen to the next generation and the ones to follow if humans were to be cloned? Will they be able to adapt to the natural environment? How can our babies adapt if they were born to be exactly like us, with the same diseases and traits that we carry? Cloning will erase our natural defense check against birth defects because, defect genes are recessive requiring both parents to carry the gene to pass the disease but through a sole parent, the genes would be transmitted unmitigated. If we allow this depletion of genetic diversity to occur, we will most definitely be “sowing the seeds of our destruction,” since it is this diversity that ensures our existence in this world by passing on essential characteristics to make us less susceptible to diseases.
Groups supporting human cloning see this as a medical breakthrough. But is dissecting a manmade headless mutant then ripping its organs out for a supposed life saving operation an acceptable approach? Is that a real ethical procedure, to give life to a so-called human only to have its body chopped up for spare parts? Unquestionably, it is inhumane to adopt such a horrific practice. We should not tamper with what God has created- “plagarising and stealing the uniqueness of his creations.” Or by attempting to remake Eden with a perfect being replacing natural man.
“Knowledge is a dangerous thing and we’re finding out things that we best ought not to know… gaining power we ought not to have because… like the fruit of the tree of good and evil, you get the evil along with the good.” Cloning humans might seem to be a benefit to society, but unethical procedures like manipulating human genes and perfecting a handmade human is definitely evil and morally unacceptable. Genetic engineering will surely alter the very basis of humanity, causing disturbance to natural growth of mankind. Consideration is necessary and now is the time to act, before it’s too late to prevent the change that will end the existence of the real human race.