Charger Opinion
CloningErin McMillan, Charger Staff Cloning. The word itself stirs controversy. Recently the Raelian
sect announced they have cloned not only the first, but the second
baby. They have now also claimed to create a clone from the DNA
of a Japanese toddler who died two years ago. With these announcements
cloning has been taken to a new level. The Raelians believe people came from aliens and operate under
the command of their so called spiritual leader, Rael. They formed
Clonaid in February of 1997, a mere month before Dolly the sheep
made headlines as the first cloned animal. The Clonaid project was put into the hands of Raelian bishop Dr.
Bridgette Boisselier in 2000. Her last job was as a marketing director
for a large chemical company in France. All of their work has been done in the Bahamas where they relocated
in the summer of 2001 due to numerous visits from U.S government
officials. They have offered absolutely no evidence in regard to
their claim of creating human life. The facts that they are a cult
and have released no studies on cloning bring their credibility
level down further, leaving many to believe we have not advanced
as far scientifically as we had been led to believe. Many believe cloning is playing God and that it isn’t our
business to create life. Questions of morality arise along with other questions such as
“Will clones be considered freaks?” and “Will they
have a soul, or be just a robot?” hang in the air. Cloning, like many other things, has both positive and negative
points. For instance, imagine you could take a cow or a chicken
and clone it thousands of times over. The problem of starvation would be eliminated, saving millions
of lives. Now imagine that you can do the same to a kidney, liver,
heart, or any other organ. The death rate of those on waiting lists
for organs would diminish. Although cloning has advantages, the bad aspects perhaps outweigh
the good. Is it really our job to create a life through science
and give it all the characteristics that we think would make them
perfect? People have been making life on their own for all of time, so why
change now? In the future, why should a couple pay millions of dollars
to a scientist to create their perfect child when there are millions
of babies already here that no one wants? It has also been said that if cloning advances enough, people who
have paid to have dead pets frozen will be able to have them cloned,
and others will want to bring back deceased friends and relatives.
That would be an irresponsible way to use the technology, considering
it would not be the same person or pet, except physically. Another question that comes to mind is, “Would it be fair
to a clone to be in existence?” Do we need to bring something
into this world to do nothing more than experiment on and treat
like a freak?
~Article prepared for web by Steven Linger and Joy Wheeler~ |