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Esposito, 2019

Human Cloning:
When do Scientists Cross the Line?
By: Lucas Harle
1/6/2020
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Statement of Topic:

In this essay, I will be investigating the science behind human cloning, and the public

opinions about it. There are many different viewpoints on the issue, but many are somewhere in

the middle of the two major viewpoints. The extremes of the topic are that human cloning should

be not only allowed but encouraged, while another side believes it to be dangerous and against

God’s will. The biggest question is, should religion have any say in science?

Purpose:

I want this essay to make readers reflect on their personal beliefs and focus on what is

best for society as a whole, instead of thinking about personal views. I also want this essay to

initiate reconsidering their views on the subject. Science is rapidly developing. It is the world we

live in. Human cloning has been argued about for over a decade now, and it is time to make a

decision. We either need to allow scientists to work on their projects, or ban it. We cannot keep

debating and wasting money on scientific experiments that cannot be used due to laws and

controversy.

Scope:

In this essay, I plan to examine a few key factors in the decisions about human cloning.

Should religion have any place in the scientific community? Could it help people have children?

If it helps people have children, we start to get into issues of overpopulation; especially if we

used the technology for organ transplants. Not that it would become an everyday occurrence that

someone was cloned, but, what is the definition of humanity? At what point is something not

human? In this essay, I will not be discussing using cloning of other mammals, such as trying to

save species from extinction or resurrecting extinct species.

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Background Info:

On July 5th, 1996, a sheep codenamed 6LL3 (nicknamed Dolly) was born. She was the

first successfully cloned mammal in all of scientific history. She was born at the Roslin Institute

in Scotland. She was able to even have her own children, but would only live to be six years old.

The initial reaction from the public was praise on one hand, talking about the medical

possibilities, and how this technology could save lives. On the other hand, people were saying

that the new technology was dangerous and unethical.

Now, laws on human cloning vary per country vary greatly. Currently, in Japan, human

cloning is only legal for research purposes; while the exact opposite is true in Canada. Currently

in Canada, it is illegal to clone someone for research purposes, but legal to clone someone for

reproductive purposes. Ignoring the debate around the ethics for a moment, as of 2013 it is

possible to clone embryo cells (Stark). We are able to clone humans! Although, no one has yet to

allow a human clone grow into a full baby, as of right now. As of 2014, scientists have

discovered how to turn skin cells into stem cells, which is a huge breakthrough for those in need

of organ transplants.

Viewpoint 1:

With the stage it is at right now, human cloning is creating life for the sole purpose of

destroying it. As explained in an article by Paul Stark, researchers are creating embryo cells just

for testing, and then letting them die. Many churches believe that cloning goes against God’s

will. God did not intend these lives to exist. Cloned humans could almost be described as

soulless beings. In another perspective of the religious aspect against cloning, is what the

Catholic Bishops believe in. “Christ taught another way: it is that of respect for human beings;

the priority of every method of research must be to know the truth about human beings, in order
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to serve them and not to manipulate them according to a project sometimes arrogantly seen as

better even than the plan of the Creator.” (Pope John Paul ii). Now, it is argued that religious

beliefs have no place in science, but according to an article by Jennifer Harper- 84% of the world

is religious. Religion is in the majority by an astoundingly large margin. Why suppress the

ideology of 84% of people? That is simply illogical.

In theory, the science involved in human cloning could help women who struggle to have

children get pregnant. Although, cloning is a very unstable science because it is so

underdeveloped. What birth defects and long term health issues could we be exposing

defenseless children to by creating life via cloning? Say that the child was born without any

issues- then we risk overpopulation. Our planet is already facing climate change, adding more

people to the equation is not going to help the planet. Besides, if we do go forth with cloning for

fertility reasons, are there not already kids in foster care waiting to be adopted, who deserve

more love than a clump of cells that shouldn’t exist? On the topic of overpopulation, say we use

cloning technology for organ transplants. Replacing one’s organs with a cloned, healthy version.

It would extend the lifespan of people who would otherwise be dead, which would throw the

world population out of order, since there would be more babies born than people dying due to

the clone transplants. To conclude, cloning does more harm than good and it is not what the

public wants.

Viewpoint 2:

Cloning is in the best interest of the general public. It is the way of the future! Humans

will live longer, people will struggle less with fertility, and with testing on embryos we will be
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able to further develop modern medicine by testing on human cells without harming actual

people.

The religious community has spoken out against human cloning; but personal belief has no

room in the scientific community. There are

many different types of religions who

(NPR, 2014)

believe many different things and scientific

development should not be halted because of

this. Many Christians in the United States of

America believe that cloning is “against God’s will”, but Thomas Jefferson created the first

amendment to put a wall between church and state. Most scientific research is funded by public

universities, and if the churches are not contributing funds they should have absolutely no say in

scientific advancements. Cloning research has been halted by people putting their personal

religious beliefs above the ethical laws of the land and that is absolutely unacceptable. John Paul

ii stated that “the priority of every method of research must be to know the truth about human

beings, in order to serve them” and if we do not further develop cloning research, we are

allowing people’s time on earth to be cut short in their worst interest. With current science, we

are so close to being able to clone someone’s own cells, and give them a transplant with their

“own organ”. This would save lives by creating perfect matches and shorter wait times for

people in need of organ transplants. Going back to what Paul said about serving people, the topic

of curing infertility with cloning technology. A Danish study that was spoken about by Shannon

Firth states that infertile couples are three times more likely to have their marriage end in
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divorce. After divorce, people are more likely to be depressed, therefore cloning is in the best

interest to serve the people.

Now, it may be argued that cloning technology used with infertility issues could cause

overpopulation. But, only about 10% of women are infertile, according to womenshealth.gov. It

is not as if this form of fertility would be often used. With the topic of testing on embryos,

embryonic cells do not have feelings.

They do not feel pain. They are little

cells in a petri dish that have yet to

become anything. If we define any

human cells as life that should be

protected, then does this not mean that a

little chunk of flesh is also a person?

(Knoefler, 2013)

Also, these embryonic cells could not survive out of the laboratory, nor exist in the first place, so

again, they cannot realistically be seen as human life.

Personal Perspective:

Personally, I believe that human cloning should be used. It is not as if we are going to be

cloning everyday people for no reason, all reasons for cloning have backing and practical use. It

would help increase the happiness of the general population as it saves marriages with its help

with fertility and lowers depression rates due to less premature deaths. With the plans for cloning

technology, there is nothing but benefit for all parties.

Proposal of Action:
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Specifically for my region, as the laws per country change, I propose that a proposed bill

is created in favor of legalizing stem cell research. A facebook group can be created as a way to

quickly spread information about the benefits of human cloning and to attempt to get rid of the

scariness of the phrase. A GoFundMe link can also be put on the facebook page, and the money

raised by that would go to sending postcards to houses to encourage them to endorse the

message, holding social events/ rallies, and donating to science organizations to help fund their

research to help quickly bring us into a new age of science and well being as a society. We

would push lawmakers to get human cloning legalized as soon as possible, although knowing

how long a law will take to pass is incredibly unpredictable.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, human cloning isn’t as horrible as it sounds, and is actually quite

beneficial to soceity. People are definetly afraid of the phrase, but human cloning is really just

the use of stem cells, things that are useless on their own, in a productive way. Cloning can save

lives and bring joy to people that they wouldn’t otherwise have. All things have their evils; it is

up to society which of those are worth the cost though, and human cloning is definelty something

that is worth the cost, with minimal harm and phenomenal benefits.
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Works Cited

Esposito, Shaylyn. “DNA Strands with Books, Planets in the Background.” Smithsonian

Magazine, The Smithsonian, 11 Dec. 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-

nature/ten-best-science-books-2019-180973744/.

“Dolly the Sheep Becomes First Successfully Cloned Mammal.” HISTORY, 9 Feb. 2010,

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-successful-cloning-of-a-mammal.

Seidel, George. "20 Years after Dolly: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about

the Cloned Sheep and What Came Next." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection,

Gale, 2019. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/PAALMK758510979/OVIC?u=midv31744&sid=OVIC&

xid=651de3cc. Accessed 7 Jan. 2020. Originally published as "20 years after Dolly:

Everything you always wanted to know about the cloned sheep and what came next," The

Conversation, 17 Feb. 2017.

Stark, Paul. "The reality of human cloning." National Right to Life News, Nov. 2015, p.

7. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A438183611/OVIC?u=midv31744&sid=OVIC&xid=5714

cbcc. Accessed 7 Jan. 2020.

Paul ii, John. “Vatican.” Vatican, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-

ii/en/letters/2004/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_20040806_meeting-amicizia.html.

Harper, Jennifer. “84 Percent of the World Population Has Faith; a Third Are Christian.”

The Washington Times, The Washington Times, 23 Dec. 2012,

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https://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/dec/23/84-percent-world-

population-has-faith-third-are-ch/.

Firth, Shannon. “Study: Infertile Couples 3 Times More Likely to Divorce.” U.S. News &

World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 30 Jan. 2014,

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/31/study-infertile-couples-3-times-more-

likely-to-divorce.

“A-Z Health Topics.” Womenshealth.gov, 13 Mar. 2019,

https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/.

Knapton, Sarah. “Breakthrough in Human Cloning Offers New Transplant Hope.” The

Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 17 Apr. 2014,

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10774097/Breakthrough-in-

human-cloning-offers-new-transplant-hope.html.

Knoefler, Paul. The Niche, 15 May 2013, https://ipscell.com/2013/05/cloning/.

Harris, Richard. “First Embryonic Stem Cells Cloned From A Man's Skin.” NPR, NPR,

17 Apr. 2014, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/04/17/303658757/first-

embryonic-stem-cells-cloned-from-a-mans-skin.