Cloning.
“Your gut reaction is, ‘Oh, mixing humans and animals, cloning, that’s all bad...’ the real reason it’s scary is that there’s enough vague language in it to leave it open for interpretation.”
~Dr. Nathaniel Zoneraich, Valley Fertility Specialist

It is quite ironic how true that is. My first reaction was the same –as expected. Cloning is bad. It is too unnatural and will destroy the meaning of “unique human beings”. Yet as I delved deeper into the subject matter of cloning, I realized otherwise. The use of cloning should be allowed for human development and enhancement. Cloning can save many lives, help scientists research and possibly cure a myriad of genetically transferred diseases, and help make aesthetic surgery safer and easier.

The use of cloning can be used to generate new cells for various parts of the human body. Skin cells can be cloned for new skin for burn victims; and brain cells can be cloned for people with brain damage. Research also shows that cloning can be used to reverse heart attacks by injecting heart cells into impaired sections of the heart. At the moment, heart diseases are the number one killer in the United States. Cloning can change that. Cloning spinal cord cells can change the lives of quadriplegics and paraplegics for the better and enable them to do things they have only dreamt of. Most people know someone, whether a mother or a father, a brother or a sister, an uncle or an aunt, who has cancer. According to scientists, cloning white blood cells may be helpful in treating and maybe even in finding a cure for this deadly disease. The reason cloning is vital for all of these medical advances is the fact that the cloned cells match the patient’s genes, preventing rejection from the patient’s immune system. (Smith) Over 4,000 genetically transmitted diseases are discovered each year. (Estlund) And the average person has eight defected genes. Cloning has the potential to help scientists study these diseases and run tests on cloned version of these diseases. (Smith) Overall, the use of cloning can have a positive, life-changing impact on the lives of a myriad of people.

There is always a need for aesthetic surgeries. Whether it is for reconstructive or cosmetic purposes, these surgeries are in a high demand. Reconstructive surgery may be used for victims who have suffered face deforming accidents; while some people may want to alter their physical appearance as a beautifying effort. By using cloning, these surgeries are safer and have less of a risk factor than current techniques. Also, cloning enables doctors to be able to make new body parts for people who have nonfunctional or destroyed body parts. This is a more efficient and comfortable substitute for prosthetics. Altogether, cloning can improve the overall procedure of plastic surgery.

Many argue that cloning is an unnatural process and that it is a matter best left alone. Yet the truth of the matter is, Mother Nature does not deplore of this process at all. Surprisingly, nature has allowed cloning to occur all along. Many asexual animals use cloning to reproduce themselves. In addition, if cloning was considered unnatural because it uses science to achieve tasks that otherwise would not be possible, shouldn’t medicine be considered unnatural since it uses science to benefit people in ways that otherwise wouldn’t be possible? Shouldn’t surgery be considered unnatural because it uses medical instruments to operate on people? Shouldn’t everything and anything man-made be considered “unnatural” since everything and anything man-made would be using science to perform tasks that wouldn’t be possible “in nature”.? Because cars aren’t found on tree. Nor are hot dogs and hamburger. Why are people so selective on what the definition of unnatural applies to? All in all, “unnatural” is just an opinion and has no real value.

When I took a brief survey asking whether or not people would mind having clones of themselves, the majority said that they would mind. Then, when asked why, most answered they felt that having a clone would make them feel unoriginal. Yet the truth of the matter is, even though your clone may have the same genotypes and phenotypes as you, they would be completely different people with completely different personalities: Each clone, just as a person, would develop a personality based off of their collection of unique experiences. (Easterbrook) Therefore there is no need to be afraid of ruining the ideal image of distinct, individual human beings.

All in all, it is fair to say that cloning has the potential to have a very positive impact on society. If the use of cloning is permitted, human kind may be able to achieve accomplishments, which we as a race, have only dreamt of for centuries. We will be able to eradicate diseases that have haunted us and caused us so much loss since the beginning. Aesthetic process can be made so much more convenient than they are today. Why should another man suffer due to a heart attack? Why should another burn victim hide their deformed face from the world around them? Why should another child die of leukemia? When the solution to all these problems is at our finger tips?



Work Cited
Easterbrook, Gregg. ”Embrace Human Cloning.” Wired. 17, 10. 2009: 1; SIRS Knowledge Source. Web. 4 April 2013.
Estlund, Sarah. Genetically Transmitted Diseases. eHow, Demand Media Inc. 2013. 7 April 2013.
Ray, Alia Beard. "“Bill Eyes Ban on Cloning, ‘Hybrids’.”." Arizona Republic n.d.: 1-2. SIRS Knowledge Source. Web. 4 Apr. 2013.
Smith, Simon. “The Benefits of Human Cloning.” Human Cloning.org, Human Cloning Foundations. 2002. 7 April 2013.