Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
gerously diminish the gene pool of
Homo sapiens
and thereby make the spe-
cies less adaptable are not founded in fact. other species of animals are
considered endangered when their worldwide populations fall below one
thousand. With billions of sexually reproducing humans in the world,
repetition of the genome of even millions of these by cloning would not
endanger the gene pool of
Homo sapiens.
reproductive Cloning: human values
The strongest arguments for human cloning are based on the view that the
liberty to reproduce, even if assisted reproduction is needed, is a right pro-
tected by the Us Constitution (robertson 1994). Arguments against hu-
man cloning are based on values either rooted in secular society or embed-
ded in religious traditions. The greatest secular-based concerns are over
the physical and psychological well-being of the clone and the potential
undermining of shared social values. religious concerns are diverse, re-
flecting the variety of religious traditions in our world society. By exam-
ining some of the objections to human reproductive cloning, we will be
better able to form and defend our own informed opinions on the subject.
you may or may not agree with my analyses, so i urge that you also give
your own informed critique of each objection.
Objection 1.
Cloning humans is playing God, and it is wrong for humans
to play God.
We discussed the “playing God” objection to biotechnology in chapter 6,
making the points that all views of God do not preclude using biotech-
nology to manipulate human biology and that modern medicine itself is
also vulnerable to this objection. rationality requires rejection of this ob-
jection as a valid reason to prohibit human reproductive cloning. But maybe
there are other reasons to prohibit cloning; let's see.
Objection 2.
To make reproductive cloning safe would require prelimi-
nary experimentation with human eggs, early embryos, and embryos
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