Like most medicinal/ biological breakthroughs, they are usually coupled with pros and cons as well as ethical issues regarding the topic. Cloning uncountable amounts of benefits as we could use the DNA of dinosaurs from mosquitoes trapped in amber in order to restore them back, as well as other extinct species. Animals that are in the endangered zone can be repopulated using cloning technology.Â
Cloning will also enhance the agricultural industry, farmers can genetically modify and thus produce organisms that are bigger, stronger, more durable, produce more meat, or yield more crops. Besides cloning animals, there is also therapeutic cloning which incorporates embryos fertilized in vitro (with the consent of the egg donor) that contains pluripotent stem cells that is used to treat diseases (4-7).
The negative aspect regarding cloning is that we have not fully understood the technology used for cloning and based from past attempts, we see that animals cloned often died due to diseases.Â
Second, it brings up the ethical issue in regards to the fact that this human being or animal was not made naturally, and thus is considered as playing god. The idea of cloning humans also creates conflict within most of the religions with most claiming that a clone wouldn't have any soul (4-7).
All in all, cloning is still a controversial topic as although it does provide us with numerous amounts of benefits such as stem cells, to produce kids for infertile couples, and even save species, it is the idea that we are playing God. Many consider that we are messing around with the laws of nature that refers to how a "live" being is formed. Overall, the idea goes both ways and it is still to be discussed further on in the future, we must decide whether the overall benefits out-weighs the consequences or vice versa.
References:
1. Cloning fact sheet [Internet]. National Human Genome Research Institute; 2017 Mar 21 [cited 2019 Aug 18]. Available from: https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Cloning-Fact-Sheet
2. Allott A, Mindorff D. Oxford ib diploma programme: biology course companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015 Aug 28
3. Tian XC, Kubota C, Enright B, Yang X. Cloning animals by somatic cell nuclear transfer--biological factors. Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology. 2003 Dec;1(1):98.
4. Shapiro HT. Ethical and policy issues of human cloning. Science. 1997 Jul 11;277(5323):195-6.
5. Din L. Ethical issues regarding human cloning: a nursing perspective. Nursing ethics. 2003 May;10(3):238-54.
