The Risks of Cloning

Recent scientific breakthroughs on the cloning of cells, both human and others, have sparked

many debates regarding the moral repercussions that might arise as result of careless and

unsupervised cloning.

In a letter to the editor published in ‘The Age’ on April the 22nd 2015, Mr Bruce Banner argued

that the cloning of animals and possibly humans as well is a ‘dangerous and frightening’ threat

that should not be allowed to continue and be studied any further. With a contrasting view to

Mr Banner, Mr Phil Coulson, in his letter to the editor also published in ‘The Age’ on 22nd of April

2015 contended that although cloning might have some moral conflicts, instead of staying away

from this new branch of science, it should be approached with a sense of caution and

apprehension.

Mr Banner, in his cynical letter to the editor regarding his views on cloning and whether or not

it should be explored, uses his readers’ sense of security to persuade them that allowing the

scientific research into cloning to continue will only lead to the endangerment of all of

humanity. Banner uses a pejorative simile, ‘like little kids with a chemistry set’ to compare the

scientists who want to further their research on cloning and test its boundaries to little kids.

This comparison suggests that, like excited young children, they too are too eager to toy with

cloning without realising what damage they can and are causing. The inference that these

scientists are endangering everyone without even realising or intending to imply that the issue

of cloning is one that is so dangerous, that even when intending to do good, it will eventually

end up causing more harm than good thus positioning the readers to agree with Banner that

cloning it too dangerous to even be studied and should be avoided in order to keep everyone

protected and safe.

Cooper centers his letter on a series of imaginary scenarios that could occur if cloning were to

become a practice.