Cloning is a relatively new science being developed as a way to explore human creation and as a way to further medical science. In the introduction of Understanding Cloning, William E. Haseltine says "to clone: to reproduce, by human hand, identical copies of a living organism" (Haseltine, vii). So far, rabbits, rats, mice, sheep, and dogs have been successfully cloned but there is yet to be a human clone. Scientists argue that if cloning could be used for organs or used to direct stem cells in the body to fight off cancers and disease, it could be a monumental change in modern science for the better (Levine, 118-9). In science, one discovery leads to another. Cloning part of the human body for organ donation could eventually lead to cloning a complete human being. Once a human is cloned who would be able to put a stop to further experimentation and research? For now, at least, there is a general consensus that cloning a human being is far too dangerous and that the science is not developed enough to experiment with humans (Levine, 118). Those who argue in favor of human cloning justify their reasoning by explaining that cloning is a way for parents who cannot have children to have a new option, or for devastated parents who lose a child to obtain a new one based off their former child. These people in favor of cloning classify it as a private situation and a private decision. They argue that individuals can make a private decision to clone. Truthfully, however, cloning cannot be confined to only the private; clones would affect the public sphere raising questions of nature versus nurture, identity, and human rights.
-Siobhan.. not Ben.
1 comment:
Siobhan,
You do a nice job here getting the reader focused on and engaged in the topic. I appreciated how you carefully framed the issue in terms of the relationship between the public and the private. You have a clear thesis, but is there a way that you can integrate the three particulars that you mention (nature vs nurture, identity, human rights) into a single idea? What I am expecting to follow is a sort of five paragraph essay approach that bullets certain questions about cloning. This isn't terrible, but the more unity you can get in your guiding idea the better.
You want to start a paper with strong, clear writing. (It would actually be great to do this all the way through.) Read through the first two sentences. The first seems awkward with the use of "being" and, in the second, there is no verb in the quote. The writing does pick up after that.
Are there really parents out there who see cloning as a way of replacing a dead child? Creepy.
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