Human Cloning---Angel or Satan?
Uploaded by realturtle on Aug 28, 2002
Since I am majored in biology, I will mainly talk about the topic of human cloning today.
Four billion years ago, life arose on the earth. Four billion years later, human beings begin to look into the secrets hidden in the genes, which are the most delicate structure of life. A little over a year ago, scientists completed the Human Genome Project, which is one of the three most important advances in scientific history.
Cloning is the major technique developed in the research of genes. To clone means to make genetically identical copies. As for human cloning, it is achieved by putting the genetic material from a donor¡¯s somatic cell into a woman¡¯s egg, which has already had its nucleus removed. That¡¯s to say, the cloning cells share the same genetic materials with the donor.
Actually, Scientists have long been studying animal cloning, even earlier than the birth of the sheep Dolly. But when it comes to human cloning, people begin to diverse in their opinions. Some think human cloning as the angel while the others regard it as the Satan.
The proponents for human cloning are right. Human cloning gives hope to the couples who can not have their own children. Before the invention of human cloning, they have either to get eggs or sperms from donors or adopt a child, but with human cloning, they could use their somatic cells to create a child of their own.
Human cloning also gives rise to the production of stem cells. Stem cells have the ability to develop into all kinds of cells, for example, neuron cells, kidney cells or liver cells, thus stem cells can be used to culture human tissues and organs. Therefore, stem cells are essential materials for both medicine and biology. Stem cells are derived from embryos produced by human cloning.
However, the opponents of human cloning are also right. As a student of biology, I know clearly that one success of animal cloning is built on thousands of failures. Most of the embryos die at an early age and many of the survivals are born with serious physiological defects. Most important of all, life is a creation, not a commodity. Children are gifts to be loved and protected, not products to be designed or manufactured, not to be engineered to custom specifications.
Then, human cloning with the goal to yield stem cells is not acceptable to most people, because it requires the...