Human Cloning The Ethical Issues Essays - Cloning,

Human Cloning: The Ethical Issues Ever since the successful cloning of an adult sheep, world has been buzzing about the historical event. Dolly the sheep has redefined the meaning of the words identical twin. Not only does she look like her mother, she has the same genetic makeup as her. This experiment was not only was thought of as impossible, but unthinkable. It was achieved in July 1996 by Dr. Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute in Roslin, Scotland. Dolly was announced to the public when she was seven-months old, on February 23, 1997. Since the birth of Dolly, the Wilmut's Institute has cloned seven more sheep from three different breeds. This process that successfully worked with the sheep, is now being tested with humans. In response to the global research, President Bill Clinton immediately ordered a ban on the federal funding of human cloning in U.S. research. This issue is not to be taken lightly. On the surface, human cloning looks like the perfect solution to end many of society's problems, but in actuality it has tremendous side effects. Human cloning is an unethical procedure that has detrimental negative psychological effects. Cloning is the process that ends in one or more plants or animals being genetically identical to another plant or animal. There are two procedures that can be called cloning: embryo cloning and adult DNA cloning. Embryo cloning is also known as artificial twinning. This form of cloning has been used by animal breeders since the late 1980s and in mice experiments since the late 1970s (Human Cloning 1). The procedure consists of splitting a single fertilized ovum into two or more clones and then transplanting them into other females. This process has not been used to clone human embryos due to the Regan and Bush administrations that banned the public funding of human embryo and fetal research during most of the 1980s and early 1990s. The ban was finally lifted under Clinton's presidency. After this ban was removed, the first known human embryo cloning was done under the supervision of Robert J. Stillman at the George Washington Medical Center in Washington DC. They used seventeen flawed human embryos. They all had been fertilized by two sperm and had an extra set of chromosomes. The embryos would never have developed into fetuses. In October 1994, the embryos were successfully split (Human Cloning 1). This experiment began the public controversy over the ethics of cloning. The government now had to set guidelines. They included the use only of embryos that had already been created for the use of in vitro fertilization, because many of these are either thrown out or frozen. Other procedures were banned, such as implanting the human embryos in other species and cloned embryos into humans, moving the nucleus from one embryo to another, and the use of embryos for sex selection. The first documented case of successful adult DNA cloning was the Dolly case. Adult DNA cloning, in the case of Dolly, started when a cell was taken from the mammary tissue of a adult sheep. It was then fused with an ovum after the nucleus had been removed. To start the developing, the egg was shocked with an electric pulse. 29 out of 277 of these special eggs began to divide. They were all implanted in sheep, but only 13 became pregnant and only one lamb, Dolly, was born. Animals that have been cloned run the risk of being infertile and having a lower life expectancy. Although Dolly has been the most publicized animal that has been successfully cloned. There have been other attempts. A monkey has been cloned and many embryos have been made of a cow, but none have survived (Can we Clone 1). The monkey has been the closest animal to the human to be cloned. This makes the issue of successful human cloning more realistic. But will it's uses be ethical? Simply put, human cloning is playing God. Manufacturing will replace procreating. Instead of the parent and child being on the same level, the parent would have power over the child. The child would be designed by the parent to serve some purpose. According to the Human Cloning: Religious and Ethical Aspects article, there are numerous uses that would have positive