Pros and Cons of Cloning

I found this paper: "The Pros and Cons of Cloning" by Nisha Agarwal, to be very helpful and it truly described the pros and cons in ethical and logistical terms of cloning. It defines reproductive and research cloning, which are the 2 types of cloning and gives pros and cons of each. Reproductive is making a new embryo and placing it in a surrogate mother to grow and later be delivered. Which obviously to many people is a problem because they don't want creation of the same exact human being which they believe is god's job. Which brings me to wonder: Is it more of an ethical issue in people's minds or a logistical one? The problem with reproductive cloning is the survival rate of mother and clone/baby is very low. Most the clones don't make it to birth and the few live births there was created many complications and often death for the mothers. So if reproductive cloning is so harmful, should we ban it and allow research cloning? Research cloning is created by stem cell research which literally uses tissue to stem out and create a specific body part. This is the ideal type in which we can save countless lives (as I said in my last post) by creating an exact replica of a body part so the body cannot deny it and it functions perfectly. After reading this article it makes me wonder if there are any bad effects of research cloning it seems to be quite ideal... 

Another site I found talked about mainly reproductive cloning. This article about Dr. Zavos in The Independent, covers the works of Panayiotis Zavos who is a fertility doctor has claimed to have created 14 clones of humans and has put 11 of those into surrogate mothers, in 2009. 

Dr. Zavos (at left) said none of the babies have successfully been born, but he has reached a level that no doctor or scientist has ever been able to. I wonder if Zavos got this far how long will it be until we are able to actually clone a human? This confuses me because in "The Pros and Cons of Cloning" by Nisha Agarwal, it explains how reproductive cloning is harmful to the mother and baby. So it makes me wonder: is reproductive cloning truly harmful for the surrogate mother and child? Zavos had a lab in the Middle East where cloning is not banned and had private clientele who gave money in order to become parents or get back the ones they had lost. In the article it also talks about one of Zavos' clients that wanted their 10 year old daughter Cady (at right) back who had died in a car crash. This is very controversial because it brings up the question of should we allow the ability to clone a person who has died? Also what is the line between bringing back the dead and living forever? The controversy over his "taboo" act caused a lot of rustle in the minds of many people but there is no doubt that his creations are historical and are huge advancements in cloning and the science of it.

Comparing these two sources it brings up the question is cloning truly as harmful as everyone makes it out to be? If Zavos was able to achieve all that he did without truly harming anyone, then why should we not pursue this? Also, in my next blog I will hope to do more research on stem cell research cloning and find more information on the pros and cons of it.

Cloning of Humans

My main research question will be “To what extent should we allow cloning (at right) of humans?” I will be specifically focusing on humans and not other animals. I will also try to explore the idea of whether cloning is ethical or not. There are many opinions    and insights of this stance and a major reason we have not already legalized cloning is because of the peoples’ ethical stances on it. So the idea of whether or not it is ethical is very important and must be addressed. Since it is a very controversial topic so I know I will be able to get a good amount of information from many cites. I will try to stick to cites that have a more medical focus on them as to get information that is credible and not just completely opinion. There are many questions that will arise because subject such as: What kind of cloning? Where will the money come from for cloning? Is this ethical? What people are eligible for cloning? What is the point of cloning? Is it against religion to clone? And several other questions. Hopefully I will be able to answer these with the information I get. As a student studying in the medical field I find cloning very interesting and very amazing. The idea of copying a human being into an exact replica is very astounding. The medial gain the human race would get by doing this could save lives and if we can clone a human being, who’s to say we can’t clone body parts? We could use the body part for people who need a kidney, heart or brain. Just clone the body part and use it, we would be able to save COUNTLESS lives. No more deaths because of being too low on the transplant list or not having a match. There is also an idea that people have addressed before that we could make clones of ourselves and use their body parts if we need them. Of course this is a very controversial idea and seems very unethical but it brings up the thought of would the clones feel anything such as emotions? Would we truly be able to clone the human completely down to emotions, memories and senses? Also would the clone feel the same as their original person? Would they be able to remember everything their original person has done and feel what they feel and be able to live their life after they die? That thought brings up a complete other controversy of if people were intended to live forever. I love this topic because it has endless information and is a very interesting topic!

Sosun Sayied, Hello!

Hi, I'm Sosun!! Blogging sounds fun, I'm excited!!