Cloning and its Ethical Concerns
Cloning has raised controversial ethical concerns with experts expressing divergent viewpoints. Cloning enables scientists to perform exceptional modifications to human embryos' DNA using genetic modification technology. In Britain, for instance, stem cell scientists were granted the license to perform modifications of embryos' DNA in 2016 (Siddique 1). While some view cloning as a scientific breakthrough that has been able to improve human life, others consider cloning as an attempt by man to play God. Various types of cloning exist and, therefore, the ethical issues surrounding this subject must be regarded objectively. Therapeutic cloning can help humanity to solve health challenges and eliminate the need for immunosuppressive drugs. This essay examines the ethical issues surrounding cloning and why some existing practices should be halted. It supports the view that human cloning is an attempt to play God and is unjustified.
Proponents' Perspective
Proponents of cloning claim that, as a scientific practice, it cannot wholly be regarded as an attempt by humanity to play God. Therapeutic cloning aims to generate human tissues and treat patients that would typically require transplants (Vöneky and Wolfrum 154). Finding a matching donor is a difficult task for transplant patients. Therapeutic cloning can, therefore, solve this challenge by providing a means for obtaining matching organs and tissues to solve health challenges.
Opponents' Perspective
Contrary to proponents' viewpoint, critics of human cloning claim that it is an attempt by man to play God (Peters 2). Designing a human being, as one would develop a car according to specifications in the factory, is an act of creation. By deciding how an individual should look and the characteristics that the individual should possess, human cloning takes on a role that is often the preserve of God. It can also lead to a situation where designer babies are produced. It means that there would be a rush to create a perfect human race. In essence, it would appear that humanity faults the natural process of creation because it is deemed imperfect. Instead, it focuses on building a human race that possesses the physical attributes desired. By determining how cloned individuals should look like and act, human cloning also takes away the power of self-determination of such individuals. Human cloning also raises questions on the role of human beings in deciding who gets to live and who gets to die by selecting the perfect embryos and destroying some in the process. Again this is an attempt to play God and an issue that raises serious concerns about the morality of human cloning.
Interference with Nature
Human cloning only manipulates the natural process of procreation. It does not essentially give life to the cloned individual. However, this argument does not hold because a natural process should flow without the interference of human beings. In an attempt to manipulate this process to obtain the desired outcome, human cloning attempts to take on some of the powers that are only bestowed on nature, or in this case, God.
Conclusion
In conclusion, therapeutic cloning does not raise a lot of ethical concerns because it aims to solve medical issues relating to organ and tissue transplant. However, human cloning is unethical because it is an attempt by human beings to play the role of God in determining how those that are born look and behave. By manipulating the natural process of creation, the science of cloning interferes with a role that is solely preserved for nature and God.
Works Cited
Peters, Ted. Playing God?: Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom. Routledge, 2014.
Siddique, Haroon. “British researchers get green light to genetically modify human embryos.” The Guardian, Feb 1, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/01/human-embryo-genetic-modify-regulator-green-light-research. August 11, 2018.
Vöneky, Silja, and Rüdiger. Wolfrum. Human Dignity and Human Cloning. Springer, 2013.
