Introduction
The amount of progress that has been achieved through science is enormous. Science has been used to explain abstract phenomena like gravity, reproduction, cosmology, etc, which were not well known to mankind. With these kinds of discoveries in place, there has been plenty of remarkable progress made in fields including but not limited to modern medicine, technology, and engineering. This has in turn eased the existence of humankind in the dynamic world. A clone is a replica of an object or an organism. Therefore cloning is the process of making clones or a process that involves the usage of the genetic material to replicate the organisms or part of the organism e.g. cells tissues and body organs as applied by biomedical researchers. There are two main types of cloning known to be possible in animals; somatic cell nuclear transfer and therapeutic cloning. Since its inception, there have been mixed responses both positive and negative regarding cloning.
Advantages of cloning
Defective genes have been known to be repaired by cloning. Therefore diseases like Down’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s, and Rett syndrome can be directly treated. Also, repairs of the spinal cord due after injuries have been successfully accomplished with the help of the cloning of stem cells.
Organ transplants of crucial, organs such as the heart, liver, and bone marrow have been grown successfully through the process of cloning. Since these organs are fully grown from the recipient’s genes they are compatible. Hence the process of seeking for potential match, recipient and donor, as was the case before is now obsolete.
Plastic and reconstructive surgery, for people who want to change their appearances due to an accident or undesired bodily features, are nowadays very common. This is because of the high level of technology and skills of the medical fraternity. Instead of using foreign materials like metals, doctors can use cloned tissues, cartilages and cells of bone and skin to conduct the reconstructive surgery. The cloned materials are compatible and they neither result in side effects or complications.
There are many people who are sterile and cannot be able to reproduce their own offspring. This is a problem whose solution can be handled through genetic replication or cloning. It is possible through cloning to put to an end the problem of infertility. Though the chances of success are slim it is not zero.
Disadvantages of cloning
The process of cloning is very expensive and has slim chances of success, approximately 2%. This can end causing up more emotional trauma or stress to the couples attempting to have children. It is also viewed as a method that undermines the process of child adoption, which has been proven to work over many years. Children who have no proper subjects to take care of them as parents are denied a second chance in life to have parents.
Under the religious realms, cloning is perceived as tampering with god’s work which is perfect regardless of the perceived imperfections. It seems also to be interfering with nature as this is an artificial means of raising a population. These two views have stronger backing from the vast majority.
Cloning interferes with society. It directly undermines the value of the family which is the basic societal unit. This is because it takes away the role of parents in childbearing and the concept of love that has been known to sustain mankind.
The process of cloning- with already done cases as examples- has produced individuals with more deformities, poor immunity, and developmental anomalies. This has raised more questions about the benefits of animal or human cloning. These individuals also have proved to have short life spans.
The loss of diversity of genes is dangerous in that if a calamity happened to strike then all people with a certain type of genes will be wiped out. Therefore clo9ning reduces the chances of a man surviving in case of such attacks.
Conclusion
There are many theories and misconceptions, some of which are true while other are rumors, about cloning. Cloning has obtained criticisms from religious and social quarters. It is viewed as competing nature and God. Also on moral grounds, it is considered immoral. The aspect of having a cloned individual raises more questions than the existing answers. Therefore cloning should be avoided.
Cloning for the purpose of reproduction should not be encouraged. It is very costly and has almost zero chances of success; this makes it not an economical means of achieving anything. It also portrays science in a very negative way as trying to compete with God. However, therapeutic cloning is justifiable. It seeks to help rather than to experiment with human beings.
Human cloning should be avoided at all cost. An embryo should be only transferred from a woman’s uterus if and only if there absolute assurance of its safety. Medically it has been proven that an embryo is more stable inside the mother’s uterus than outside the uterus. This condition cannot be assured by the process of human cloning. In fact, it exposes and increases the embryo’s chances of dying.