Human Cloning Ethics, Risks, and Social Concerns

Six Arguments Against Cloning

Here are the counterarguments for these six points, in an effort to keep the arguments on both sides balanced.

1. Identity and Psychological Pressure

If a child was cloned from a person who was alive for a long time and then died, they would have expectations to live up to. They would probably live a very stressful life and might suffer from emotional problems, knowing that they were not an individual but a clone.

2. Health Problems and Premature Aging

A big problem with cloning is the fact that many health problems occur with most of the animals that were cloned. Dolly, the famous cloned sheep, suffered from premature arthritis and progressive lung disease. This was at the age of six while most sheep live up to the age of 12.

3. Parental Rejection and Increased Adoption

Another fact is that if an infertile couple wants a child and gives their requirements, but there is a mistake with a child — such as the child not having a high intelligence level — the parents might reject the child. There would be a lot more rejected or defective children if human cloning were allowed, and many more children would be put up for adoption or placed into foster homes.

4. Embryo Use, Destruction, and Moral Objections

There are also many people who believe that life is very valuable and that using embryos for research and then destroying them is the same as murder. Some believe that cloning is a crime, as it does not allow a cloned person to live a normal life, and that if a child is not born then the embryo is destroyed.

5. Religious and Moral Opposition

In many religions, adherents do not allow abortions, putting people or animals to "sleep" (euthanasia), etc., and cloning would fall into one of these categories. Many of these people probably believe that cloning is evil and that it is a sin. They believe that God intended humans to participate in reproduction through sexual intercourse. Some state that cloning would fall into the same category as adultery or fornication.

6. Potential for Abuse, Exploitation, and Commercialization

There is a belief that some people would abuse the science of cloning and maybe even use it to create people solely for evil deeds, such as war or slavery. Many people in this world would do this, and in least developed or developing countries, people with a lot of money could do almost anything. They could create cloned humans and then sell them for a profit. The profit from this would probably be quite high, and people with bad intentions would likely see this as a way to make money.