Ethical Problems of Cloning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethical Problems of Cloning - Essay Example The doctors are hopeful, that they can induce a remission again. However, the most effective treatment would be a bone marrow transplant. Jim and Gwen have no other children and neither of them are a close enough match. They decide to attempt to conceive another child who will be a match for Ruth and seek assistance from an IVF specialist. They will then be able to use the cord blood for the transplant. They undergo three attempts involving the collection and fertilization of ova. Each embryo is tested but none of the eight embryos are a match. Ruth has finished the repeated courses of chemotherapy and is in remission again. However, her parents are not sure, how long she will remain in remission and are disheartened by the failure to find an embryo that is a match. They ask the doctors to consider cloning Ruth, using an egg from Gwen with the nucleus removed. The doctors are reasonably sure, that they could successfully clone a child, even though it has only been trialed with animals. However, they are seriously concerned, that the child would be born with birth defects. Jim and Gwen acknowledge this concern but feel there is no other way to save Ruth. Is cloning a human real Should human clones exist The question is not in technical peculiarities now, but in the moral and ethical implications of cloning. On the one hand, this act may be considered immoral. It is known, that a person has got not only body, but thoughts, deeds, moral standards. People can be happy and sad, angry and kind. And people have got reason. This is the fundamental difference of humans and animals. There is the risk, that a human clone won't have human thoughts or traits, which won't make him different from animals. This creature will be like an empty cover without soul. The so-called cloning technology distinguishes only material, and not spiritual nature of people. Thus it may create a mass production of humans without any relation to the real act of conception and with giving a little individual no mind or soul. Transplantation of organs from a clone, whose donor attributes are similar to those of the patient, may not be a desirable objectivity. The life of a human, even of a cloned one, should not be considered as the consumer product. Even an embryo at its initial stage of development possesses life. That's why it may be considered immoral to create human life for further killing it. It is rather difficult to accept cloning from the ethical point of view. But there is also some concern from technological point of view. Though cloned animals exist, but it has been noticed that they often have physical defects or are overtaken by untimely death. This very fact was outlined to Ruth's parents - there is the great risk of the cloned child having many physical defects, and there are no guarantees, that the child will live a long life. According to the research, the probable rates of death among children may reach 50%. Taking into account this fact, some people may consider cloning to be a crime. No one should strive to acquire hundreds of embryos, which stand in front of the danger of being destroyed. This fact is enough to suppose cloning to be immoral. Moreover, the children, who were born through cloning, may meet a lot of terrible problems in their lives, as