by Megan Soyars

Created on: January 01, 2010

In 1997, when a sheep named Dolly was created by reproductive cloning in Edinburgh, Scotland, citizens everywhere realized one day such a procedure could be used on humans. Soon, sooner than they had thought, it would be possible to create a living human being that was genetically identical to another. This fact raised a number of ethical and moral dilemmas that are still being contested today. At the moment, only 10% of the population is in favor of human reproductive cloning, but both sides are making their voices heard.

Dr. Leon R. Kass, professor of biology at the University of Chicago, strongly opposes human reproductive cloning. In his article “Why We Should Ban The Cloning Of Human Beings,” he states that in the cloning debate, the public must “decide nothing less than whether human procreation is going to remain human, whether children are going to be made rather than begotten, and whether we want to say yes in principle to the road that leads to the dehumanized hell of Brave New World.” Kass feels that there is nothing ethically right about the cloning of human beings. Firstly, he disagrees with the analogy that cloning is just like natural twinning. With cloning, a child is deliberately designed by parents or scientists to be the exact genetic copy of an existing (or previously existing) person. This in itself causes a myriad of problems, Kass states. Firstly, if the child is cloned from an adult, it will be fully aware (unlike a natural born twin) that its genes have already “lived.” It will be forced to live under the shadowed, or perhaps even abusive, expectations of its parents. This is especially true if it has been cloned from a famous or influential person. And what about the clone’s familial relationships, Kass asks. In the case of cloning, who is the mother or the father? The cloned person may act in place of the parent, but in truth they are not, because the clone is technically their “twin.” And in many cases, the clone will also have only a single “parent” raising it. In this way, the clone is being robbed of a traditional family, the same way children being born out of wedlock are.

Lori B. Andrews, an attorney for reproductive technologies, agrees with Kass’ view. In her book The Clone Age, Andrews discusses the reasons why cloning should never be used with human beings. Firstly, she states that the physical risks of cloning are too high. There is no guarantee that

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