Cloning is just one example of the great power of gene technology, a technology we urgently need to treat or cure diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis, cancer or AIDS, and to help feed the growing world population. However gene technology raises urgent questions of safety and ethics.
Human cloning means designer people with known pedigree. This is the ultimate pedigree child. Cloning of human embryos has already been achieved. Successful cloning of adults have announced but not yet proven. It is only a matter of time, months or a very few years before human cloning is a reality for anyone with enough cash, willing to take the risks of a hideously malformed or emotionally damaged child. .
Despite huge risks, and widespread public condemnation, by January 2001 many different scientists across the world were already locked in a race to clone the first human.
Huge amounts of money are at stake in human cloning research. Teams have announced their aim, many people have come forward with offers of eggs, their own adult cells and money - and the US still has no laws to prevent human cloning from happening, nor do most other countries of the world.
One set of ethical concerns about human clones involves the risks and uncertainties associated with the current state of cloning technology. This technology has not yet been tested with human subjects, and scientists cannot rule out the possibility of mutation or other biological damage.
The ethical issues of greatest importance about cloning do not involve possible failures of cloning technology, but rather the consequences of its success. Assuming that scientists were able to clone human beings without incurring the risks mentioned above, what concerns might there be about the welfare of clones?.
Here are three reasons why we should say NO to cloning: cloning is not ethical.
1. Non ethical health risks from mutation of genes - an abnormal baby would be a nightmare come true.