Summary of Articles



Summary of Articles

Introduction

Human cloning has been a subject of much debate that has been discussed in the past many years. Ever person has a varying point of view on the subject due to its good and bad implications. Cloning of human beings is the process of creating an identical genetic copy of a human (van den Berg, 2012). The reason for cloning being such a controversial topic is the ethics that is involved with the process. The authors Chris MacDonald and Patricia Baird give their views on whether cloning should be allowed. Both authors try to convince the readers by giving the possible results that could happen if human cloning was matured. The authors have some good arguments with regards to the topic, but Chris Macdonald, writer of “Yes, Human Cloning should be permitted”, provides a more convincing argument on this topic, reason being the fact that Baird lacks evidence to support her arguments. MacDonald indicates the happenings that are happening in the current scenario (MacDonald, 2000, p.235-237). Baird has very narrow approach to the topic, whilst MacDonald offers a broader perspective to the topic. The following essay offers the view point of both the authors in detail.

Patricia Baird's Article

Without any solid evidence, proving a statement can be a tough job; particularly when debating unusual topics where there is not much research available. MacDonald's reply to Baird's views, point out that she has a lot of claims and arguments that are not backed by proof or facts. As there are not existing clones that can account for Baird's claims, makes her case weaker in view of Baird's stronger arguments. Baird's believed that there were a lot of negative implications that can be faced by the human clones in both physical and mental ways. The damages could be physical, mental disorders, disabilities, death, high risk of cancer and premature aging. The psychological damages could range from not having a sense of individuality and a predetermined future. Baird argued that a significant contribution to the human identity is a sense of belonging to the mother and father's back ground while at the same time being a distinct human being. People have the option of choosing what kind of genes they want to be cloned, which is against the law of nature. A child, if conceived naturally has no set outcome of what the features would be like. Reproduction through cloning would give parents the option to produce off springs that are already determined how they should look like. The perception about child that is produced through the use of technology to determine their outlook would change.

The cloning can be arranged with genetic enhancement, could give the required characteristics to them. The animals that are developed through cloning have better feature such as more meat or milk producing capacity due to the cell that are transferred to the cloning process. This could also be applied to humans, as the desirable traits would be added such as skin color, height and hair ...