Cosmoscience Jun.2014 | Seite 4

ethical issues concerning cloning

In a worst case scenario, cloning could then be used on such a large scale, that it depletes genetic diversity. It is diversity that drives evolution and adaptation. It prevents an entire species from disappearing because of susceptibility to a disease. Without diversity, one type of disease or problem could wipe out an entire species, because everyone is vulnerable to the same thing. On the contrary, it is highly doubtful that cloning would ever be used at a level to make this a significant threat. Also, cloning would make embryos and cloned humans to be seen as just commodities and goods that can be manipulated, rather than independent human beings. The moment we let this happen, we lose our value as human beings, and we become nothing more than every other manipulated animal that roams the earth.

Cloning, a huge technological and biological advancement is the creation of an identical copy of a life form. However there are a lot of ethical controversies concerning this concept, especially concerning human cloning. Firstly, one of these issues is that there is no guarantee that the cloned human will be perfectly normal. The human may come out with disorders which could not have been detectable before birth. This cloned human would then be forced to live the rest of his life with these disorders. Not only would these disorders shatter the life of the person, it would also reduce their lifespan. Secondly, every human is unique and every human has a right to individuality. Cloning would eliminate these factors as the cloned subject would just be a replica of another person, and not their own self.

"Cloning represents a very clear, powerful, and immediate example in which we are in danger of turning procreation into manufacture."