Human Cloning Essay
Piper Peterson
10/7/12
American Literature Essay
Human Cloning Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human being, a human body part or human genes using donor DNA from somatic cells. But cloning is not just a matter of science. Our ethics and humanity are confronted by an extraordinary science fiction come to life. The cloning methods of reproduction for animals are not new: frogs were cloned in 1952, Dolly the sheep in 1997, and dead cat Little Nikki in 2004. Human cloning even premiered in the 1978 Gregory Peck movie “The Boys from Brazil” in which South American Nazi scientist wanted to clone a clutch of little Hitlers. ("The Ethics of Human Cloning." : ChristianCourier.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2012. https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/353-the-ethics-of-human-cloning.) The real affront is with people. Just because science can clone babies or body parts or cell proteins, should we? Should we use human embryos or stem cells or both? Human cloning must remain within the constraints of our values and morality, be absent exploitation of human beings and enhance the quality of our lives today and the day after.
Making a baby without sex or sex cells? This re-engineering of the human reproductive process has not yet succeeded in producing a live, healthy baby. Not too popular a concept, it has been outlawed in 13 states. The process itself is called SCNT or Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in which the DNA (nucleus) of a donor somatic cell is fused with and an enucleated egg cytoplasm, creating an embryo. The animal embryo is implanted into a surrogate mother through in vitro fertilization. This system has worked in a minority of non human animals in 1-4% of the experiments. ("How Human Cloning Will Work." HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2012. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/genetic/human-cloning.htm>.) In addition to a high failure rate, many of the baby animals produced have been
10/7/12
American Literature Essay
Human Cloning Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human being, a human body part or human genes using donor DNA from somatic cells. But cloning is not just a matter of science. Our ethics and humanity are confronted by an extraordinary science fiction come to life. The cloning methods of reproduction for animals are not new: frogs were cloned in 1952, Dolly the sheep in 1997, and dead cat Little Nikki in 2004. Human cloning even premiered in the 1978 Gregory Peck movie “The Boys from Brazil” in which South American Nazi scientist wanted to clone a clutch of little Hitlers. ("The Ethics of Human Cloning." : ChristianCourier.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2012. https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/353-the-ethics-of-human-cloning.) The real affront is with people. Just because science can clone babies or body parts or cell proteins, should we? Should we use human embryos or stem cells or both? Human cloning must remain within the constraints of our values and morality, be absent exploitation of human beings and enhance the quality of our lives today and the day after.
Making a baby without sex or sex cells? This re-engineering of the human reproductive process has not yet succeeded in producing a live, healthy baby. Not too popular a concept, it has been outlawed in 13 states. The process itself is called SCNT or Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in which the DNA (nucleus) of a donor somatic cell is fused with and an enucleated egg cytoplasm, creating an embryo. The animal embryo is implanted into a surrogate mother through in vitro fertilization. This system has worked in a minority of non human animals in 1-4% of the experiments. ("How Human Cloning Will Work." HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2012. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/genetic/human-cloning.htm>.) In addition to a high failure rate, many of the baby animals produced have been