According to Kfoury (112), the development in biotechnology has brought about some issues that are of great ethical considerations in the society. One of the main issues that have been hotly debated is the issue of cloning as the people get confused as to whether they should adopt it or not. There are various perspectives through which the debate can be explored and these are the areas that I want to focus on. This will help in giving an opinion about the issue of cloning.
Safety is the first issue that has to be addressed when it comes to cloning. Devolder (3) claims that in terms of safety, it is much better to have something done in the manner that is less risky and safer. In further exploring this issue, he argues that the persons involved in the process, the sibling, would not approve of the process if there was a safer way to bring people and animals to life. He also argues that even if the process was to be carried out safely, there would still be a better and safer way of doing it through the natural method. It is for this reason that cloning is not seen as a good way for reproduction.
Far from safety is the issue of efficiency. Again, Devolder (3) observes that though there have been cases of successful cloning procedures, yet some severe failures have been observed. These include the numerous instances of abortion, still births as well as the numerous birth deformities that have been seen in cloned mammals. Well, I do not dispute the fact that the process can be used as an effective cure for such conditions as cancer. It is for this reason that I go with the opinion that cloning is only efficient when used as a form of therapy, but not as a way of reproduction.
There are religious and ethical issues related to cloning. Though there is no unified religious opinion as pertains to cloning, different religions have their standing on the same. The Catholics and other Christians, Jews, and Muslims all do not agree with the use of cloning as a method of human reproduction since they believe that God is the giver of life (Devolder 4). However, they do not seem to dispute that cloning can be used as a form of therapy where and as when necessary. Due to this, religious people might have a problem adopting cloning as a form of reproduction.
In terms of research, I categorically state that there is still quite a lot that needs to be done on the same. For instance, it is argued that if a clone is developed from the stem cell of an old individual, then the offspring might age very fast. It is also not clear as to what causes the numerous birth defects and still births (Devolder 4). Similarly, there are fears that the clones can have genetic problems which are carried along with the cells of the donor (Kfoury 4). If these issues have to be cleared on, then it goes without saying that there is the need for more research to be done in this area.
Lastly, I wish to give my opinion on cloning as a conclusion. Well, from the above account, it can be seen that there are ethical, religious and safety issues associated with the process. I understand that at times all these can work out and the clone becomes a real individual. This is where my worry comes in. What will be the nature of the family ties that the individual develops? At times the clone can be made from a deceased person as a replacement. This appears morally incorrect to me since it will be like living with the ghost of a deceased individual. With such concerns, I am for the opinion that cloning should not be used as a way of reproduction for humans. Rather, it should be studied and developed more as another kind of therapy to conditions such as cancer.
Works Cited
Devolder, Katrien. ‘Cloning.’ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Sep. 17, 2008. Web, 16th Oct. 2012, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cloning/
Kfoury, Charlotte. ‘Therapeutic Cloning: Promise and Issues.’ McGill Journal of Medicine, 10.2: 2007, PP. 112-120. Web, 16th Nov. 2012, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323472/
