Human Cloning - The Greatest Danger is Ignorance :: Cloning Argumentative Persuasive Argument

Human Cloning The Greatest Danger is Ignorance The successful clone of an adult sheepin which the sheeps DNA was inserted into an unfertilized sheep egg to producea lamb with identical DNAgenerated an outpouring of ethical concerns. Theseconcerns argon not about Dolly, the now famous sheep, nor plain about theconsiderable impact cloning may incur on the animal breeding industry, but ratherabout the possibility of cloning humans. For the most part, however, the ethicalconcerns being raised are exaggerated and misplaced, because they are based onerroneous views about what genes are and what they can do. The danger, therefore,lies not in the power of the technology, but in the misunderstanding of itssignificance. Producing a clone of a human being would not amount to creating a carbon copyan automaton of the sort familiar from science fiction. It would be much likeproducing a delayed identical twin. And just as identical twins are two separate mintbiologically, psychologically, mora lly and legally, though not contractableallyso a clone is a separate person from his or her non-contemporaneoustwin. To think otherwise is to embrace a belief in genetic determinismthe viewthat genes determine everything about us, and that environmental factors or therandom events in human development are utterly insignificant. The overwhelmingconsensus among geneticists is that genetic determinism is false. As geneticists have come to understand the ways in which genes operate, theyhave also become aware of the myriad ways in which the environment affects theirexpression. The genetic contribution to the simplest somatogenetic traits, such asheight and hair color, is significantly mediated by environmental factors. Andthe genetic contribution to the traits we value most deeply, from intelligenceto compassion, is conceded by even the most enthusiastic genetic researchers tobe limited and indirect. Indeed, we need only appeal to our ordinary experiencewith identical twinsthat they ar e different people despite their similaritiesto appreciate that genetic determinism is false. Furthermore, because of the extra steps involved, cloning will probably alwaysbe riskierthat is, less likely to result in a live birththan in vitrofertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer. (It took more than 275 attempts beforethe researchers were able to obtain a successful sheep clone. While cloningmethods may improve, we should neb that even standard IVF techniques typicallyhave a success rate of less than 20 percent.) So why would anyone go to thetrouble of cloning? on that point are, of course, a few reasons people might go to the trouble, and so itsworth pondering what they think they might accomplish, and what sort of ethical