Jostyrostelli
Forum Addict
- Joined
- May 29, 2004
- Messages
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Since we are having some serious topics about moral questions, I'd like to introduce a new one. Human Cloning. It was mentioned, I think by MPower in the Abortion thread, and I thought it was interesting to see what you all think about this.
To start of I'll explain in a short read what cloning is, hopefully it will be clear.
Edit: Uhmm, I said short...yeah well..
A picture says more than a thousand words, so maybe this helps:
I found this animation which is simple but understandable, I'm not going scientific here, maybe I'll explain later on, now I just want to hear what you think.
http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/units/cloning/whatiscloning/twinning.cfm
Little history of Cloning:
History of Cloning
Cloning is not new. Experiments with frogs and toads date back to the 1970s . And experiments involving plants and animal embryos have been performed for years. But experiments involving human beings have never been tried or thought possible, until "Dolly." Her birth shocked the scientific community. Dolly the sheep that was.
Short timeline to show you what happend since the birth of Dolly.
July 5, 1996 Successful clone of adult sheep born; clone named "Dolly" after the famous country singer
February 23, 1997 Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announce the birth of "Dolly"
March 1997 Following the announcement of "Dolly," President Clinton issues a moratorium that bans the use of federal funds for any project involving human cloning; asks the newly appointed National Bioethics Advisory Board to address the ethical and legal issues surrounding human cloning within three months
August 1997 Clinton proposes legislation banning the cloning of humans for at least 5 years, giving the National Bioethics Board time to assess the risks, and study the ethical and social impact of cloning humans further
September 1997 About 64,000 biologists and physicians sign a voluntary five-year moratorium on human cloning (United States)
early January 1998 Ninteen European nations sign a ban on human cloning. Click here to view these countries
Richard Seed, a physicist from Chicago, announces his plans to perform human cloning experiments before Congress enacts a ban on cloning
January 20, 1998 The Food and Drug Administration announces its authority to regulate human cloning -- it would now be a violation of federal law to try somatic cell transfer (the method used to clone "Dolly" without its approval.
Now, what's the use of cloning, you might wonder? I'll try to sum a few things up. First of all, the pros, after that the cons to keep a balance.
Pros
Rejuvenation:
Dr. Richard Seed, one of the leading proponents of human cloning technology, suggests that it may someday be possible to reverse the aging process because of what we learn from cloning.
Human cloning technology could be used to reverse heart attacks. Scientists believe that they may be able to treat heart attack victims by cloning their healthy heart cells and injecting them into the areas of the heart that have been damaged. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States and several other industrialized countries.
There has been a breakthrough with human stem cells. Embryonic stem cells can be grown to produce organs or tissues to repair or replace damaged ones. Skin for burn victims, brain cells for the brain damaged, spinal cord cells for quadriplegics and paraplegics, hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys could be produced. By combining this technology with human cloning technology it may be possible to produce needed tissue for suffering people that will be free of rejection by their immune systems. Conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, heart failure, degenerative joint disease, and other problems may be made curable if human cloning and its technology are not banned.
Infertility. With cloning, infertile couples could have children. Despite getting a fair amount of publicity in the news current treatments for infertility, in terms of percentages, are not very successful. One estimate is that current infertility treatments are less than 10 percent successful. Couples go through physically and emotionally painful procedures for a small chance of having children. Many couples run out of time and money without successfully having children. Human cloning could make it possible for many more infertile couples to have children than ever before possible.
Plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery. Because of human cloning and its technology the days of silicone breast implants and other cosmetic procedures that may cause immune disease should soon be over. With the new technology, instead of using materials foreign to the body for such procedures, doctors will be able to manufacture bone, fat, connective tissue, or cartilage that matches the patients tissues exactly. Anyone will able to have their appearance altered to their satisfaction without the leaking of silicone gel into their bodies or the other problems that occur with present day plastic surgery. Victims of terrible accidents that deform the face should now be able to have their features repaired with new, safer, technology. Limbs for amputees may be able to be regenerated.
Breast implants. Most people are aware of the breast implant fiasco in which hundreds of thousands of women received silicone breast implants for cosmetic reasons. Many came to believe that the implants were making them ill with diseases of their immune systems. With human cloning and its technology breast augmentation and other forms of cosmetic surgery could be done with implants that would not be any different from the person's normal tissues.
Defective genes. The average person carries 8 defective genes inside them. These defective genes allow people to become sick when they would otherwise remain healthy. With human cloning and its technology it may be possible to ensure that we no longer suffer because of our defective genes.
Down's syndrome. Those women at high risk for Down's syndrome can avoid that risk by cloning.
Tay-Sachs disease. This is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder could be prevented by using cloning to ensure that a child does not express the gene for the disorder
Liver failure. We may be able to clone livers for liver transplants
Kidney failure. We may be able to clone kidneys for kidney transplants
Leukemia. We should be able to clone the bone marrow for children and adults suffering from leukemia. This is expected to be one of the first benefits to come from cloning technology.
Cancer. We may learn how to switch cells on and off through cloning and thus be able to cure cancer. Scientists still do not know exactly how cells differentiate into specific kinds of tissue, nor to they understand why cancerous cells lose their differentiation. Cloning, at long last, may be the key to understanding differentiation and cancer.
Cystic fibrosis. We may be able to produce effective genetic therapy against cystic fibrosis. Ian Wilmut and colleagues are already working on this problem.
Spinal cord injury. We may learn to grow nerves or the spinal cord back again when they are injured. Quadriplegics might be able to get out of their wheelchairs and walk again. Christopher Reeves, the man who played Superman, might be able to walk again.
Testing for genetic disease. Cloning technology can be used to test for and perhaps cure genetic diseases.
Cons - Anmials
Animal rights could be considered violated.
Cloning is not cheap. We have better things to spend our money on.
Technology barriers exists at the moment so that cloning is unrealistic. It took 277 tries to successfully clone Dolly.
Cloning animals brings about animals who are owned, labeled, sold, and copyrighted.
Cloning isn't exact. Over generations the cloned will be riddled with genetic flaws due to errors being exemplified through each cloning.
Cons - Humans
Humans are sentient beings, they are not made to be specimens. They are of free will.
Ability to produce "superhumans".
Countries could clone armies (That sentence scare's me)
If humans can be cloned, it makes them property, which can be sold. Inhumane.
If cloning is relied upon for reproduction and we lose the ability to clone, everyone will have the same genotype and to reproduce would be a sick twist of inbreeding.
If everyone has the same genotype, a disease that is fatal for that genotype wipes out the human race.
So if you came this far and didn't close the browser already: my opinion to start with.
I think cloning should be forbidden. If you have read all the pros (sure that's not all, I picked a few) you see that all have to do with "improve the human being". An example: rejuvenation. That is SO sick in my opinion.
I don't believe in God but I do think something created all this around us. My instinct tells me not to mess with that. Don't mess with the human body, we were born that way, accept it. Don't try to make "superhumans" as I stated in the cons. I don't think people should be changing human beings genetically to make sure they don't have the Down Syndrome. I don't think there is anything wrong with the Down Syndrome. Those people are not bad, neither is the Syndrome itself. I don't know too much about the Syndrome, but I mean, they are not hurting me, so I don't see a problem with that. I'm pretty much against all things that have to do with cosmetics and "improving your body to look better".
I do think the benefits like transplants are very good, I know how long the lists are and young people who are waiting for an organ just die if they are not high enough on the list. That's terrible.
But the main question is, I think, how far do you have to go with cloning? When I first thought of cloning, I thought of making replicas of people. I dont see the whole point of that, but cloning, as in making transplants for people who really need it is a very good goal to proceed with that kind of cloning.
I could go on for a couple of pages but I'll leave it like this.
Have fun reading it
To start of I'll explain in a short read what cloning is, hopefully it will be clear.
Edit: Uhmm, I said short...yeah well..
A picture says more than a thousand words, so maybe this helps:
I found this animation which is simple but understandable, I'm not going scientific here, maybe I'll explain later on, now I just want to hear what you think.
http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/units/cloning/whatiscloning/twinning.cfm
Little history of Cloning:
History of Cloning
Cloning is not new. Experiments with frogs and toads date back to the 1970s . And experiments involving plants and animal embryos have been performed for years. But experiments involving human beings have never been tried or thought possible, until "Dolly." Her birth shocked the scientific community. Dolly the sheep that was.
Short timeline to show you what happend since the birth of Dolly.
July 5, 1996 Successful clone of adult sheep born; clone named "Dolly" after the famous country singer
February 23, 1997 Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announce the birth of "Dolly"
March 1997 Following the announcement of "Dolly," President Clinton issues a moratorium that bans the use of federal funds for any project involving human cloning; asks the newly appointed National Bioethics Advisory Board to address the ethical and legal issues surrounding human cloning within three months
August 1997 Clinton proposes legislation banning the cloning of humans for at least 5 years, giving the National Bioethics Board time to assess the risks, and study the ethical and social impact of cloning humans further
September 1997 About 64,000 biologists and physicians sign a voluntary five-year moratorium on human cloning (United States)
early January 1998 Ninteen European nations sign a ban on human cloning. Click here to view these countries
Richard Seed, a physicist from Chicago, announces his plans to perform human cloning experiments before Congress enacts a ban on cloning
January 20, 1998 The Food and Drug Administration announces its authority to regulate human cloning -- it would now be a violation of federal law to try somatic cell transfer (the method used to clone "Dolly" without its approval.
Now, what's the use of cloning, you might wonder? I'll try to sum a few things up. First of all, the pros, after that the cons to keep a balance.
Pros
Rejuvenation:
Dr. Richard Seed, one of the leading proponents of human cloning technology, suggests that it may someday be possible to reverse the aging process because of what we learn from cloning.
Human cloning technology could be used to reverse heart attacks. Scientists believe that they may be able to treat heart attack victims by cloning their healthy heart cells and injecting them into the areas of the heart that have been damaged. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States and several other industrialized countries.
There has been a breakthrough with human stem cells. Embryonic stem cells can be grown to produce organs or tissues to repair or replace damaged ones. Skin for burn victims, brain cells for the brain damaged, spinal cord cells for quadriplegics and paraplegics, hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys could be produced. By combining this technology with human cloning technology it may be possible to produce needed tissue for suffering people that will be free of rejection by their immune systems. Conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, heart failure, degenerative joint disease, and other problems may be made curable if human cloning and its technology are not banned.
Infertility. With cloning, infertile couples could have children. Despite getting a fair amount of publicity in the news current treatments for infertility, in terms of percentages, are not very successful. One estimate is that current infertility treatments are less than 10 percent successful. Couples go through physically and emotionally painful procedures for a small chance of having children. Many couples run out of time and money without successfully having children. Human cloning could make it possible for many more infertile couples to have children than ever before possible.
Plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery. Because of human cloning and its technology the days of silicone breast implants and other cosmetic procedures that may cause immune disease should soon be over. With the new technology, instead of using materials foreign to the body for such procedures, doctors will be able to manufacture bone, fat, connective tissue, or cartilage that matches the patients tissues exactly. Anyone will able to have their appearance altered to their satisfaction without the leaking of silicone gel into their bodies or the other problems that occur with present day plastic surgery. Victims of terrible accidents that deform the face should now be able to have their features repaired with new, safer, technology. Limbs for amputees may be able to be regenerated.
Breast implants. Most people are aware of the breast implant fiasco in which hundreds of thousands of women received silicone breast implants for cosmetic reasons. Many came to believe that the implants were making them ill with diseases of their immune systems. With human cloning and its technology breast augmentation and other forms of cosmetic surgery could be done with implants that would not be any different from the person's normal tissues.
Defective genes. The average person carries 8 defective genes inside them. These defective genes allow people to become sick when they would otherwise remain healthy. With human cloning and its technology it may be possible to ensure that we no longer suffer because of our defective genes.
Down's syndrome. Those women at high risk for Down's syndrome can avoid that risk by cloning.
Tay-Sachs disease. This is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder could be prevented by using cloning to ensure that a child does not express the gene for the disorder
Liver failure. We may be able to clone livers for liver transplants
Kidney failure. We may be able to clone kidneys for kidney transplants
Leukemia. We should be able to clone the bone marrow for children and adults suffering from leukemia. This is expected to be one of the first benefits to come from cloning technology.
Cancer. We may learn how to switch cells on and off through cloning and thus be able to cure cancer. Scientists still do not know exactly how cells differentiate into specific kinds of tissue, nor to they understand why cancerous cells lose their differentiation. Cloning, at long last, may be the key to understanding differentiation and cancer.
Cystic fibrosis. We may be able to produce effective genetic therapy against cystic fibrosis. Ian Wilmut and colleagues are already working on this problem.
Spinal cord injury. We may learn to grow nerves or the spinal cord back again when they are injured. Quadriplegics might be able to get out of their wheelchairs and walk again. Christopher Reeves, the man who played Superman, might be able to walk again.
Testing for genetic disease. Cloning technology can be used to test for and perhaps cure genetic diseases.
Cons - Anmials
Animal rights could be considered violated.
Cloning is not cheap. We have better things to spend our money on.
Technology barriers exists at the moment so that cloning is unrealistic. It took 277 tries to successfully clone Dolly.
Cloning animals brings about animals who are owned, labeled, sold, and copyrighted.
Cloning isn't exact. Over generations the cloned will be riddled with genetic flaws due to errors being exemplified through each cloning.
Cons - Humans
Humans are sentient beings, they are not made to be specimens. They are of free will.
Ability to produce "superhumans".
Countries could clone armies (That sentence scare's me)
If humans can be cloned, it makes them property, which can be sold. Inhumane.
If cloning is relied upon for reproduction and we lose the ability to clone, everyone will have the same genotype and to reproduce would be a sick twist of inbreeding.
If everyone has the same genotype, a disease that is fatal for that genotype wipes out the human race.
So if you came this far and didn't close the browser already: my opinion to start with.
I think cloning should be forbidden. If you have read all the pros (sure that's not all, I picked a few) you see that all have to do with "improve the human being". An example: rejuvenation. That is SO sick in my opinion.
I don't believe in God but I do think something created all this around us. My instinct tells me not to mess with that. Don't mess with the human body, we were born that way, accept it. Don't try to make "superhumans" as I stated in the cons. I don't think people should be changing human beings genetically to make sure they don't have the Down Syndrome. I don't think there is anything wrong with the Down Syndrome. Those people are not bad, neither is the Syndrome itself. I don't know too much about the Syndrome, but I mean, they are not hurting me, so I don't see a problem with that. I'm pretty much against all things that have to do with cosmetics and "improving your body to look better".
I do think the benefits like transplants are very good, I know how long the lists are and young people who are waiting for an organ just die if they are not high enough on the list. That's terrible.
But the main question is, I think, how far do you have to go with cloning? When I first thought of cloning, I thought of making replicas of people. I dont see the whole point of that, but cloning, as in making transplants for people who really need it is a very good goal to proceed with that kind of cloning.
I could go on for a couple of pages but I'll leave it like this.
Have fun reading it
