Cloning, and Especially Human Cloning, Term Paper

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Legal costs might also haunt governments that allow cloning research. To prevent complications related to direct government investments in cloning research, legislation could open the door for privately-funded cloning research projects while at the same time banning federally- or state-funded research projects.

However, most opponents of cloning cite the ethical costs involved in cloning legislation. Opponents of stem cell research sometimes "argue that permitting nuclear transplantation would open the door to reproductive cloning, because a ban only on implantation would be difficult to enforce." (AAAS). Even groups who would welcome therapeutic cloning research fear legal ambiguities. Stem cells do not necessarily need to be harvested from cloned human embryos: they can be harvested from discarded embryos used for in vitro fertilization or from other sources like human placenta. At the same time, legislation can easily permit therapeutic cloning while still maintaining a ban on reproductive cloning.

The social benefits of therapeutic cloning may outweigh the possible costs. Proponents of therapeutic cloning "argue that the moral status of a human embryo is less than that of a full human being, and must be weighed against the potential cures that could be produced by research using nuclear transplantation," (AAAS). Moreover, therapeutic cloning advocates "contend that a ban on implantation on the product of nuclear transplantation would be no more difficult to enforce than a ban on nuclear transplantation itself," (AAAS).

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Conclusion and Related Issues

Cloning is one of the most controversial political issues in the United States and in many other nations. Most of the cloning controversy centers on human cloning, although animal cloning is occasionally viewed as a gateway to human cloning. Opponents of cloning cite religious and ethical issues against both research and applied cloning practices. Reproductive and therapeutic cloning processes both produce living tissues. Some opponents of cloning legislation acknowledge the potential benefits of stem cell research but fear a slippery slope toward cloning actual human beings. Ethical issues that might arise if human reproductive cloning were allowed without restriction include the quality of life of the cloned being, because so far all cloned animals have lived short and disease-ridden lives. Cloned human beings, like cloned animals, could also be used against their will for scientific research. However, such scary scenarios remain the domain of science fiction.

Proponents of cloning usually cite the social benefits of allowing stem cell research. Stem cells can grow into any type of specialized body cell and therefore could be used to cure or alleviate degenerative diseases. If legal definitions can be clarified, public policy and legislation can clearly distinguish between the various types of cloning activities and limit which ones would be legal......

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