Human Cloning
Human cloning is a process of cloning human reproductive cells such as embryos to produce a copy of the same cells as a person. Cloning produces a copy of a human being that is genetically identical. The process is artificial and it involves the reproduction of tissues and cells of a human being. There were speculations for many years that human cloning was taking place in different parts of the world, which were not true until there was a case of successful human embryo cloning in 2013, although no human clone was produced. Other stories that were hypothetical include a story of the journalist who was investigating the cases of cloning in Italy. He stated that there was a possibility of making a human copy because there was a doctor called Antinori who claimed to be trying to clone human beings. The rumors led to the company the lady was working with to be nicknamed, human cloning company, which led to different stories of human cloning, including the story that the company had cloned a woman called Eve, which letter it was confirmed not true, that human clone was never made. If ever cloning is made possible, it should be limited access and used with caution.
It became a strong topic that needed to be discussed because different people had different opinions about human cloning. Some of the issues that led to different opinions include the risk it was posing to women who have to produce very many numbers of eggs to go over cloning, also if human cloning falls in the wrong hands, there could be cases of human impersonification which could lead to cases of insecurity, the embryo cloning should through discussion should be only limited to animals, not humans ( Larijani, and Farzaneh, 86 ).
Human cloning was opposed in different countries, 90% of the counties have opposed human cloning and have entered into international laws that prohibit cloning except for the United State of America which does not have laws on human reproductive cloning and other states (Nakamura et al. 615). Many people including scientist argue that human cloning cannot be safe because it causes a psychological threat to the children that are cloned.T here is also a religious and ethical argument about human reproductive cloning is against the religious beliefs and ethical standards of some people. Human cloning is widely opposed due to security, religious and ethical challenges that make it a major topic of discussion whether it should be put in practice or not.
Haran and others discussed that cloning started in 1901, through the invention of genetic engineering in animals, these were invented to treat hereditary diseases in animals and breeding to produce animals with high production and resistance to diseases. It started with a salamander, where there was a successful transferring of its embryo cells to nuclear cells, there was the beginning of cloning. Scientists started cloning embryos of mammals from 1940 to 1950. In 1962 there was a successful transfer of nuclear of the tadpoles by replacing them with the nucleus of the intestine of the tadpole to produce a frog. In 1984 cloning of the sheep through embryonic cells was tested, while in 1994 there was bovine cloning of cows embryonic cells, in 1996 there was a successful clone of the sheep, there was a major step in genetic engineering, became a major topic of research by many scientists.
The cloned sheep was called Dolly from Scotland and was produced through use of the cells of the mature sheep mammary glands, in 2000 there was a successful clone of eight animals from different species ., in 2003 there was a successful clone in the United State of America where a mule was produced (Nakamura et al. 616). In 2006 there was a successful clone of a dog which was called Snuppy. These went on as many scientists made clones like the Iranian scientists who made other clones of the sheep and modified the genetics of the sheep to withstand harsh dry conditions and many other animals like cows. After the successful cloning of animals it advanced to human cloning, it was created in 1998 with Advanced Cell Technology and later it was destroyed, the efforts of making human clones went on by 2008 in January where Dr. French claimed to have successfully created embryos of the human embryos. He did these by taking nucleus from the skin cell from his colleague and put them in the human egg whose nucleus was removed, then it developed into blastocyst stage which later got destroyed, the same process was tried in 2013 but was futile until 2019 where there were successful cloning primates where there was a successful birth of two female clones. Human cloning is under scientific research in different countries, there are different views according to the countries and scientists who support it or not, the countries that does not support it view it as unethical, unreligious and posses insecurity for a country but in the countries that support view it as a way of human redemption, in problems such as genetic diseases and extension of death.
Some scientists think that human cloning is beneficial to human beings and they want it to be warranted by the countries opposing it (Haran et al. 400). They think it is important because it will save the newborns from conducting hereditary diseases from their biological parents. It will help to treat infertility between men and women and people will retain their heredity genes. It will help to replace a person if something bad happens to the original man like an accident and ends up dead. It will help to replace human organs such as liver and heart in case of failure; they can be cloned and replaced through other clones with the same genetic genes. It will help to increase the population in the areas of the law population due to calamities like floods and war (Nakamura et al. 617). With these advantages, many scientists view human cloning should be allowed in different countries to help the future of the human race. Through these advantages that have been seen mostly in animal cloning, there are different stories regarding human cloning. An example of the successful cloning of a sheep called Dolly can be transformed into human beings since cloning has helped animals in breeding and in developing strong species of high resistance levels.
The scientist and the states that do not support human cloning they claim it has a more adverse effect on the human that the positive effect. They claim human cloning will lead to genetic disorders to a human being; it will also lead to the creation of monsters which can be very difficult to control (Nakamura et al. 615). Human cloning will lead to contracting the same type of virus since everyone has different body immunity but in the clones, the immunity will be the same. There will be a high death rate due to genetic disorders which are even happening in animal clones. For example the cloned sheep doll had some genetic disorder. It will also lead to the creation of deadly viruses that can be made from the multiplication of the cells.
According to Larijani, and Farzaneh (56), there is the ethical and religious negation concerning human cloning, in a religious point of view it is against their beliefs to create a human being example Muslims and Christians, the belief that that work is made for their creator who is God. There is also a security problem posed by human clones if the technology falls in the wrong hand's people can be cloned to impersonate other people to take up their roles.
In conclusion, the cloning process has developed from the cloning of the animals to human embryonic cloning. There have been researches that have advanced from 2013 to date but there has never been a successful case of human cloning. Human cloning has been opposed by various scientists and states due to insecurity it may cause human beings like the development of viruses and monsters that can harm a human being. There are other scientists who believe cloning will bring positive effects to the human race like the treatment of hereditary diseases. If human cloning becomes successful there it should be limited to specific authorities so as not to get into the wrong hands that can cause harm.