Katie Wisner

English 11
February 3, 2011

Cloning Humans: Should We?

It is a wrong use of technology to clone humans on a variety of different levels.

First and foremost it is unethical. We as humans were not put on this world to create

lives. We should save lives, and prevent illness, but when it comes to the creation of a

new life ( other then by sexual intercourse,) we have gone too far, and we are misusing

the technology we have created. There are two other reasons that we should not use

technology for creating clones, the first is that it takes too many attempts at being

successful, and cloning results in a variety of health risks including tumors, obesity, and

enlarged organs etc. cloning is wrong and should not be continued.

First and foremost cloning is unethical. According to Nrlc.org, “It constitutes

unethical experimentation on a child-to-be, subjecting him or her to enormous risks of

bodily and developmental abnormalities. It threatens human individuality, deliberately

saddling the clone with the genetic makeup of person who has already lived.” Cloning is

undermining the original plan for life that was intended by our Creator. It is also loosing

the human form of individuality that we were all blessed with by creating scientific

“twins.” When a woman has a clone embryo inside of her, everything that was natural

about conceiving a child is lost. Children should be created out of love, not a science

experiment. Imagine a child growing up in the shadow of its cloned self, never becoming

a “real” human. Clones are classified as humans, with a real functioning mind and

personality that can be undermined. It can also be torn apart, and psychologically

disturbed, especially when they are used for things such as organ harvesting. Just because
there is a clone of a person does not mean that they are acting and thinking just like that

same person, if a clone grows up in a different environment then that individual, they will

act in a way that is a reflection to how they are brought up. They may or may not

represent that individual in anyway other than the looks and genetic structure.

Cloning takes too many unsuccessful tries that may or may not result in viable

offspring, and this is proven through the cloning of animals, imagine the complexity of

humans. Ornl.gov states that “There are only about 1or 2 viable offspring for every 100

experiments.” If it takes that many failed attempts through cloning animals, humans are

immensely more complicated, thus causing 1000 of more attempts of unsuccessful

pregnancies. The unsuccessful pregnancies can cause emotional and fertile stress on the

mother who may have carried a fetal clone for up to 2 terms then lost it do to

abnormalities or genetic defects. This article also states that “Not only do most attempts

to clone mammals fail; about 30% of clones born alive are affected with “large-offspring

syndrome” (which results in death) and other debilitating conditions. Several cloned

animals have died prematurely from infections and other complications,” creating these

risks for the sake of science is not worth it. If we were intended to continuously live for

100s of years wouldn’t our genetic make-up allow for that possibility? Well the genetic

make-up for individuals does not allow this, so obliviously it is crucial that scientists

need to stop the cloning process and work with nature, and the natural structure of the

human genome instead of against it.

Human cloning is highly dangerous and imposes health risks that are irreversible.

Babyboomercaretake.com states that, “cloning experiments on animals have already

shown that there are risks of fetuses getting debilitating and fatal conditions.” If this
website clearly state these risks associated with cloning animals; how dare scientists have

the audacity to impose the possibility of human cloning. This source also states that, “The

worst part is that these conditions cannot be predicted and avoided at the moment. Some

of the conditions cannot be predicted and avoided at the moment. Some of the conditions

pose a threat to the pregnant mother, therefore, opponents of human cloning feat that

these health risks will also be present in human clones and thereby making it a risky

proposition.” Obviously human cloning is dangerous, and it is unhealthy for both the

mother and the cloned fetus. Articlebase.com has found substantial evidence inferring

that “The technique is extremely risky right now. A particular worry is the possibility that

the genetic material used from the adult will continue to age so that the genes in a

newborn baby clone could be-say- 30 years old or more on the day of birth. Many

attempts at animal cloning produced disfigured monsters with severe abnormalities.”

With all of the substantial evidence against cloning, once again we cannot support any act

of human cloning.

Some of those who are in opposition to this view may say that cloning will

eventually result in a perfect person, and a significant decrease in sickness, disease, and

create “extra organs” to use for those in need. Everything that is stated about is perfect

argument that proves why cloning is not going to solve this issue. It will cause more

sickness and more diseases that are genetically imprinted into a person that may not be

able to be reversed. Why take the risk in trying something that cannot be undone. A

mistake is one thing, but a mistake that may affect all of humanity in the future is not a

mistake that should be worth making.

 The use of technology for cloning will in fact be the worst mistake that scientists

could every make. It has entirely too many defects in coherence with out genetic

structure. It takes too many tries and unsuccessful births that can potentially harm the

mother and cloned fetus. Above all else human cloning is unethical in response to

creating life, then forcefully ending it for no reasons that can be justified.
"Human Cloning." N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb 2011.

<http://www.nrlc.org/news/2002/NRL03/ex.html>.

"genomics.energy.gov." cloning fact sheet. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb 2011.

<http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml>.

"health risks for human cloning." baby boomer care. N.p., 2007 . Web. 3 Feb

2011.

"online articles directory ." article base.com. google, june 5 2008. Web. 3 Feb

2011. <http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-

articles/disadvantages-of-human-cloning-461241.html>.