Cloning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Cloning - Essay Example ifferent contexts in biological research but in its most simple and strict sense, it refers to a precise genetic copy of a molecule, cell, plant, animal, or human being. In some of these contexts, cloning refers to established technologies that have been part of agricultural practice for a very long time and currently form an important part of the foundations of modern biological research† (Nussbaum & Sunstein, 1998, p. 1). Although this method has created many live successes, it has proved significantly less likely to generate successful instances of pregnancy than those conceived naturally via sexual intercourse. Additionally, the majority of cloned mammals have had some form of birth defect. Mammals do not replicate their own DNA through the natural process. This occurs only by cloning which presents both scientific and ethical implications. â€Å"The prospect of such replication for humans has resulted in the most controversial debate about reproduction ever to be taken up in western civilization† (McGee, 2001). Plants create offspring through replication by the natural method. When mammals replicate DNA by artificial means the practice is complex both technically and socially speaking. Those who are in opposition to cloning humans contend that this unnatural form of reproduction has a tremendous potential for basing dubious procreation decisions with regard to the genetic engineering of children. Their worry is that the traditional family is in jeopardy of evolving in a bizarre, unfamiliar and socially undesirable direction. Supporters of cloning procedures say that it may possibly, among other attributes, serve society as a valuable alternative infertility treatment. The cloning of animals has provoked the debate regarding the social, legal and ethical aspects concerning human cloning. Because of failure rate as compared to the customary conception method in animal testing, scholars, scientists and politicians usually agree that human experiments