http://www.readourpapers.com/index.php Free School Papers - Posting and sharing en ReadOurpapers.com http://www.readourpapers.com/biology/cloning-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly.html Religion’s play on cloning is that of which it is opposed to it. Cloning human embryos and the belief that we may create and design our own life go against fundamental Catholic and Christian beliefs. Leon Kass once mentioned that, ‘cloning is a very clear and powerful example in which we are in danger of turning procreation into manufacture.’ (2) The united Methodist Church stated “genes are God-given, and thus man should not be glorified as the creator of genes.”, meaning, everything on earth, humans, plans animals, atoms, were pre-owned by the Creator. There have been many books sprouting up from Christian evangelical theologians such as Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, and Kerby Anderson, who are attacking the cloning and genetic engineering from a Christian standpoint. These Christian leaders believe that once cloning is available, there will be nothing to stop them creates whatever they want, and that Humans would become a subordinate being. (3)
The proposed uses and benefits of cloning have become very numerous as time has gone by, particularly in the medical field. From the possibility of cloning tissues for skin grafts, burn victims, and organ transplants, to cloning people themselves, the list goes on.
Furthermore benefits claimed by scientists in favor of human cloning include, Infertility, the ability for infertile families to have children. Cosmetic surgery, including breast implants and people suffering from accidents would greatly decrease the cause of cancer from today’s cosmetic practice. Cloning pieces of human tissue will allow us to create kidneys and livers, for transplants that’ll be accepted by the receiver. One of the big benefits that can help out society is possibility of curing cancers, reversing cells through cloning, by the ability of understanding them better. There are numerous other cases that can be mentioned as a use for cloning technologies. By the use of stem cells, we can create tissues. People in need of transplants can seek cloning technology’s benefits by receiving a cloning organ, or the possibility for people suffering from popular diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s could have a probable chance of being cured. (4) Cloning may eventually prove its worth in medicine, but the future is still unknown. Proposals come much more often than real progress, but much more is going on than in publicized in the media. Research on the topic presents a much uglier side than the fluffy lamb that graced front pages everywhere, a side of the countless unsuccessful attempts, deformities, and health problems that plague clone subjects. There are many ideas that seem more science fiction than reality, and the only question remaining is, how long will they remain so?
Genetically engineered, similar to the technique of cloning, however this could be used to alter DNA, and create stronger beings, or plants. In one case, Trees could be altered to grow faster, or produce more wood, or even fight pollution. During 1989 and 2003, 230 tree experiments have been filed to the Dept of Agriculture, however only half passed initial tests. (5)
In New Zealand, scientists have successfully created a calf, which was one of the last surviving short-horned cattle. One report of cloning, conducted in South Korea, in 1998, a scientist had begun the first human-cloning experiment. It was done for an infertile woman, they had produced a four-cell embryo from genetic material taken from a woman, and however, the experiment was stopped because the Korean code of conduct prohibits such acts of inserting a cloned embryo into a womb (6).
The biggest thing that people need to understand about cloning is that while the DNA of the cloned animal, person, etc, is identical to that which is was copied from, the clone itself is by no means identical to the individual it is a copy of. Suggestions of cloning a beloved or deceased pet have this flaw at the forefront; the clone has little to no guarantee that it will share the characteristics or uniqueness. People will need to put forth legislation to provide a fundamental backing towards cloning, as well as protection against cloning technologies. The rise of information on the web is unprecedented, people must read on what is going on around them, some ideas and happenings are out of the mainstream news media, solely because they don’t see people wanting to know this type of information, also, not to mention, they may have certain interests in cloning technologies.
I believe that cloning has both positives and negatives. I believe, once the industries have the okay to clone, they’ll create whatever they choose to, found through loopholes and such. I think it’ll create new species which are here to serve an unknown purpose that was created by scientists for testing. These are just my speculations, backed by no evidence, but if you look into our past, you can see how we’ve taken advantage of technologies, which ended up in a horrific outcome. If cloning were to be available to scientists, there should be extremely strict rules and overseen throughout the process. Money can influence people to do horrible things which may lead to even worse viruses than the AIDS virus. However, I am more supportive of efforts made to prevent diseases, from fatal illnesses to cancers, to save a life, or to improve a suffering person’s health. But things like cloning a pet so that if it dies you will have another that is its twin, is more of an abuse of the technology. As a human, you must do your research and see where, and if there is an answer to our situation.

Footnotes:
1– Human Cloning (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/4560.html)
2 – Ethical issues of cloning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning#Ethical_issues_of_cloning)
3 – Epstein, Ron, Another Voice: religion and Measure H (Ukiah daily Journal, 2004)
4- Benefits of human cloning (http://robby.nstemp.com/about.html)
5 - Genetically engineered trees quietly sprouting (http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/GEtrees.htm)
6– Grucible II Group, Seeding Solutions: Volume 1: Policy Options for Genetic Resources( Litopixel, Rome Italy, 2000) 29
7– Cloning How it works (http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,534450,00.html)
8 - How cloning works (http://www.howstuffworks.com/cloning.htm)]]> Biology]]> Wed, 11 Oct 2006 03:11:19 -0400