Disadvantages of human reproductive cloning
Some people seem to feel that there is something inherently wrong with human cloning. Kass argued that there is a certain “wisdom of repugnance” (1999). But there is certainly a deeper analysis necessary before we are able to draw solid conclusions. What exactly could be wrong with human reproductive cloning?
It may be argued that human cloning violates the respect for human dignity (Brock,1999). If cloning would be applied, the individual is not unique any more and human be-ings would be seen as replaceable. But there are serious problems with this argument. In my view, the most significant objection is the fact that there is no genetic determinism (Brock, 1999). Many people still believe that by copying the genes of a person we also achieve a full copy of the personality of the person. But this is just wrong, since the en-vironment plays a huge role in the development of the individual, too. Education, social contacts, certain life experiences – these are all variables which have a substantial in-fluence on the character of the individual and they will certainly turn out to be different for each clone. It is true that we have reason to believe that certain genes have an influence on certain personality traits, but this influence is far from being sufficient to determine the whole personality of a person. This becomes particularly evident when we take a look at identical twins. Like clones, they also have identical genes, but identical twins do not have identical personalities. Hence, cloning would not make human beings replaceable and each individual is still unique. Therefore, I believe that this argument against human cloning carries absolutely no moral weight.
Another argument that has been used against human cloning is that it would lead to psychological problems for the clone. The clone may think that his life has already been lived by someone else (Holm, 1998), so it does not really matter what he does, because his life choices are already predetermined. This may cause depression. In addition to that, even more psychological problems could be caused by false expectations from other people (Brock, 1999). For instance, if the “original” is or was really successful, people may expect that the clone has the same success. This could put a high degree of pressure on the clone. How seriously should we take this objection? The source of this issue is, again, the false belief in genetic determinism. The life choices of the clone are not predetermined and it is simply wrong to expect that the clone will have the same life like the original. Ne-vertheless, although it is a false belief, it is a widespread belief. As long as this is the case, this objection holds to the full extent. However, in my view, we could counteract this pro-blem by initiating extensive counselling programs. These beliefs are clearly misguided, and if cloning would become more integrated in our society, combined with proper coun-selling on an individual basis, then I think this problem could be reduced to a great extent4. Therefore, in my opinion, this is not a significant argument against human cloning.
The last disutility which I want to discuss is directed at the procedure itself. What kind of harm is involved? There is no harm for the cell nucleus donor. There could be harm for
The woman to whom the embryo is transferred. However, this potential harm is comparable to IVF procedures (Brock, 1999), and at least to my knowledge, the risk is not particularly high. In addition to that, there could be embryo failures. In the case of Dolly, there have been 276 failures before the cloning was successful (Brock, 1999). We do not know how the procedure of human reproductive cloning will turn out to be, but it is probably a pretty safe assumption to expect a similar number of failures, especially at the beginning. But in my view, we do not cause harm that way, because it is highly likely that the embryo does not have any form of consciousness at that stage and hence does not feel pain. This issue would require a more detailed discussion, but due to limit of this paper, I will only mention my basic perspective concerning this debate: We do not cause harm because the embryo does not feel any pain. Are there any other problems involved in the technique, besides the possible causation of harm? I believe that the following is also worth noticing: At the current state of technology, we can expect that human reproductive cloning will be expen-sive, complicated and time-consuming.
Summing up my analysis of the disadvantages of human reproductive cloning so far, the following disutilities remain: Human reproductive cloning would involve a certain risk for the woman to whom the embryo is transferred and the procedure would require a great effort. However, I do not believe that these factors are necessarily decisive – they could be outweighed if there would be a reasonable need. In the next part of my essay, I will evaluate whether this is the case.
Disadvantages of human reproductive cloning
Some people seem to feel that there is something inherently wrong with human cloning. Kass argued that there is a certain “wisdom of repugnance” (1999). But there is certainly a deeper analysis necessary before we are able to draw solid conclusions. What exactly could be wrong with human reproductive cloning?
It may be argued that human cloning violates the respect for human dignity (Brock,1999). If cloning would be applied, the individual is not unique any more and human be-ings would be seen as replaceable. But there are serious problems with this argument. In my view, the most significant objection is the fact that there is no genetic determinism (Brock, 1999). Many people still believe that by copying the genes of a person we also achieve a full copy of the personality of the person. But this is just wrong, since the en-vironment plays a huge role in the development of the individual, too. Education, social contacts, certain life experiences – these are all variables which have a substantial in-fluence on the character of the individual and they will certainly turn out to be different for each clone. It is true that we have reason to believe that certain genes have an influence on certain personality traits, but this influence is far from being sufficient to determine the whole personality of a person. This becomes particularly evident when we take a look at identical twins. Like clones, they also have identical genes, but identical twins do not have identical personalities. Hence, cloning would not make human beings replaceable and each individual is still unique. Therefore, I believe that this argument against human cloning carries absolutely no moral weight.
Another argument that has been used against human cloning is that it would lead to psychological problems for the clone. The clone may think that his life has already been lived by someone else (Holm, 1998), so it does not really matter what he does, because his life choices are already predetermined. This may cause depression. In addition to that, even more psychological problems could be caused by false expectations from other people (Brock, 1999). For instance, if the “original” is or was really successful, people may expect that the clone has the same success. This could put a high degree of pressure on the clone. How seriously should we take this objection? The source of this issue is, again, the false belief in genetic determinism. The life choices of the clone are not predetermined and it is simply wrong to expect that the clone will have the same life like the original. Ne-vertheless, although it is a false belief, it is a widespread belief. As long as this is the case, this objection holds to the full extent. However, in my view, we could counteract this pro-blem by initiating extensive counselling programs. These beliefs are clearly misguided, and if cloning would become more integrated in our society, combined with proper coun-selling on an individual basis, then I think this problem could be reduced to a great extent4. Therefore, in my opinion, this is not a significant argument against human cloning.
The last disutility which I want to discuss is directed at the procedure itself. What kind of harm is involved? There is no harm for the cell nucleus donor. There could be harm for
The woman to whom the embryo is transferred. However, this potential harm is comparable to IVF procedures (Brock, 1999), and at least to my knowledge, the risk is not particularly high. In addition to that, there could be embryo failures. In the case of Dolly, there have been 276 failures before the cloning was successful (Brock, 1999). We do not know how the procedure of human reproductive cloning will turn out to be, but it is probably a pretty safe assumption to expect a similar number of failures, especially at the beginning. But in my view, we do not cause harm that way, because it is highly likely that the embryo does not have any form of consciousness at that stage and hence does not feel pain. This issue would require a more detailed discussion, but due to limit of this paper, I will only mention my basic perspective concerning this debate: We do not cause harm because the embryo does not feel any pain. Are there any other problems involved in the technique, besides the possible causation of harm? I believe that the following is also worth noticing: At the current state of technology, we can expect that human reproductive cloning will be expen-sive, complicated and time-consuming.
Summing up my analysis of the disadvantages of human reproductive cloning so far, the following disutilities remain: Human reproductive cloning would involve a certain risk for the woman to whom the embryo is transferred and the procedure would require a great effort. However, I do not believe that these factors are necessarily decisive – they could be outweighed if there would be a reasonable need. In the next part of my essay, I will evaluate whether this is the case.
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