Ever since the first cloning technology was developed, experts have been arguing about its ethical and moral implications.
Since then, the debate over whether human cloning is ethical, and if the argument that it will save lives in the future is even valid, continues.
Over time, different clandestine experiments have been carried out that are not supervised or approved by world governments, since the procedure is not very safe, there is no exception that the embryo is free of diseases or malformations.
Something that is agreed worldwide is that “the identity of each human being must be preserved. For this reason, the Universal Declaration of the Human Genome and Human Rights, approved by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1997, includes a consensus on the prohibition of cloning human beings for reproductive purposes” (CUIDATEPLUS, 2001), likewise we highlight several negative points of cloning:
The Cons of Human Cloning
1. It compromises the health of genetics, makes DNA vulnerable, and makes it possible to modify genes negatively. Not only these, but cloning remains a game of chance, since hundreds of experiments are carried out in which the objective is seldom achieved, and the lives of the women involved, and the embryos, are endangered.
2. It determines human beings are objects, which opposes to human dignity.
3. Cloning challenges human ethics in every aspect of society including biological, governmental, scientific, and religious. It threatens to upend millennia-old foundational pillars that support civilization as we know it. We have to ask how cloning would impact policy, our way of life, how we live together, and the answers to questions like:
- What is human life?
- What is a family?
- What is the purpose of having children?
- Is there a God?
- Are we our own creators or assistants of God’s creation?
Therapeutic Cloning
This is how the (World Youth Alliance, 2014) defines therapeutic cloning for us:
“Therapeutic” cloning, by definition, necessarily implies the destruction of a human life.
As such, it represents a unique threat to human life and dignity, since it is the first time in history that human beings would be created solely for their destruction.
Our inherent value would be ignored, and our genetic material confiscated for utilitarian purposes. Creating a human so as to destroy it removes all values from both the created clones and the existing humanity.
Should we Clone Humans?
No. Life and death are part of this universe. Allow nature to take its course.
The human being can find other alternatives to save lives, without destroying others. It is not right to destroy a life in order to save another. Human genetics, as well as that of lower lifeforms like animals, must be studied and respected, not modified so that we might play the supreme creator.
We must understand that cloning does not benefit the world. On the contrary, it creates global problems that would change everything.
Bibliography:
(s.f.). CUIDATEPLUS. (25 de Marzo de 2001). CUIDATEPLUS. Recuperado el 30 de julio de 2021, de CUIDATEPLUS: https://cuidateplus.marca.com/bienestar/2001/03/25/opinion-expertos-9850.html
Drane, J. F. (s.f.). Considerando detalladamente la Ética de la Clonación. Obtenido de Considerando detalladamente la Ética de la Clonación: https://www.uchile.cl/portal/investigacion/centro-interdisciplinario-de-estudios-en-bioetica/publicaciones/76971/considerando-detalladamente-la-etica-de-la-clonacion
Rivera, C. (07 de 04 de 2004). Clonación Humana. Obtenido de Clonación Humana: http://www.bvs.hn/RMH/pdf/2004/pdf/Vol72-1-2004-9.pdf
World Youth Alliance. (27 de 08 de 2014). World Youth Alliance. Recuperado el 02 de 08 de 2021, de World Youth Alliance: https://wya.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/statement_on_human_cloning.pdf
