ARTICLE REVIEW

Human cloning has been an ethical issue ever since the first sheep, Dolly was cloned in 1997. Much of the public has expressed anger and disgust towards the prospect of human cloning. Some politicians have vowed to outlaw it. However, there are people in support of the idea of human cloning, seeing it as a way to help others. However, we have our own responsibility to explore the potential effects of cloning technologies on our lives so that we can make decisions. So, I chose two articles of Dixon, P (2012) and Wilson, J. Q. (2009) based on human cloning in order to review the pros and cons of this latest controversial technology. Dixon, P. (2012) said that we probably encounter numerous health problems from mutation of genes if at all human cloning legislated. As a cloned cow and sheep was proven to die with abnormality of blood cell and lung disease respectively, even if a human clone survived, it is not guaranteed that it would develop normally. Wilson, J. Q. (2009) looks differently about this issue whereby he says that human cloning technology can be used to reverse heart attacks. He even conveyed that it is possible to produce needed tissue which will not be rejected by immune system for those who are suffering from various diseases. I personally feel that if all human beings are made identical by mean of human cloning, the entire human is at a risk of getting infected by the same type of pathogen. Then cloning will be detrimental in terms of a great disaster. In this case, being ourselves is healthier than being a clone. Clones are nothing better than the original hosts. Dixon even considered cloning technology in moral perspectives and stated that it will result in an unbearable emotional pressure on a teenager who is trying to establish his or her identity. I strongly support his moral argument against human cloning as I opine that cloning subjects a person to be treated as a thing. If human is cloned, this will turn us to be a property which can be sold to anybody else. Selling humans is unethical, inhumane and immoral. Human cloning is out of Gods permission. Humans have no rights to change Gods will. Wilson didnt consider cloning technology ethically and thus failed to evaluate it in depth because being dependent on only

scientific perception is insufficient and inefficient to determine whether human cloning is right or wrong. I feel that the science facts expressed by Wilson just scratch the surface of what human cloning technology can do for mankind without consider the real life fact that cloning is an assault on human life which leaves no trace of the dignity of human procreation, as it is completely an artificial reproductive technology. I would even say that it destroys the unity of marriage and parenthood. Despite these risks, supporters of human reproductive cloning especially Wilson see it as a possible solution to infertility problems. This point is highly acceptable as cloning could make it possible for many infertile couples to have children. Many couples are going through physically and emotionally painful procedures for a small chance of having children nowadays. If at all human cloning enacted, they are first person to embrace the benefit. Furthermore, Dixon asserted that human cloning is at a high risk of abuse. He assumes that powerful leaders and affluent group of people will seek to abuse this technology for their intention and desire. On the other hand, Wilson has a totally contrasting positive point of view regarding human cloning. He said that anyone will be able to have their appearance altered to their satisfaction and victims of terrible accidents can have their features repaired. Those convincing statements managed to persuade me at last and made me to think that human cloning is actually a good thing when we look at it in a good way. However, I began to think that the beauty of humanity actually lies in the differences we see in each other. If we start modifying our external features preferably against the law of nature, there will not be any challenges in our lives. Nothing will differ us from one another as all of us will have our expectations fulfilled without any adversities and complications. Cloning would eliminate surprise and predict expectancy which I think is not good. So, I still cling to my opinion that human cloning must not be legislated. In conclusion, it is obvious that there are genuine ethical concerns involved with human cloning. Currently, people have not come up with any compelling reason to pursue human cloning that would override these ethical concerns. In that case, I believe that the ban is reasonable and we should proceed with caution. (800 words)