— Janice Janice Jeonghyun Huh Y10 Noro —

28.11.15.

The world has achieved massive scientific development and has allowed convenience for humanity, but some cause ethical debates to this day – one of the most controversial dispute of the modern era is human cloning.“Clone” derives from the greek word “Klon”, meaning twig. After Dolly the sheep was created by the Scottish scientist called Sir Ian Wilmut, cloning technology was no longer the part of imagination, as this provided the evidence to the fact that human cloning could be possible. Human cloning evokes questions about the morality of society as well as the value of an individual, although it lengthens life expectancy, provides better quality of life for human, allows modern technology to surpass the limitations.

Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, points out the moral ambiguity of knowledge. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of the story, is obsessed with natural science and his thirst towards discoveries lead him to create a “human being”. Her novel allowed people to be creative and to imagine the future when the cloning could benefit humanity. However, the novel also infers the moral lesson about what could happen after human cloning becomes a reality. The novel also foreshadows how society could alienate the clones. Frankenstein indicates the possibility of discrimination, tension and vulnerable impacts that could be brought by people’s ambitions towards science. While this novel opens the new world for the readers, it also emphasises the significance of considering the consequences.

Human cloning has enabled society to overcome scientific limitations. One type of human cloning is called “therapeutic cloning”, and it has many positive effects on medical remedies. One of the most important advantages is that human cloning allows organ replacement. Scientists believe that they may cure a lot of incurable diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. In addition, defective genes could be removed by human cloning. Genetic illnesses are mostly incurable due to continuation of human reproduction and creation of mutations. However, if cloning of healthy human cells becomes possible, defective genes will be eliminated, hence humankind will no longer be affected by neither hereditary diseases nor nondisjunction disorders. Cloning can also lower the recovery time for the traumatic injuries and reconstruct the deformed parts of body.

Another benefit from human cloning is elimination of infertility. Despite the fact that modern medical technology has came up with enhanced treatments for infertility, it is not very successful. Infertility has been a major issue for couples as they have to overcome both physically and mentally painful procedures. The cost for artificial insemination is unaffordable for many couples and even though they can afford it, the rate of succession is significantly low. However, reproductive cloning can help couples to create artificial children. It also enables homosexual couples to have children without usage of donor sperms or eggs and during the procedure of cloning, parents are also able to choose certain traits that they want their child to have.