To Clone or not to Clone: The Ethical Question, your opinion?

[R0ttw eiler]

My question is basically do you think its ethical after reading this essay?

And BQ: Could we clone a Neanderthal man IF we found a good piece of DNA frozen or preserved somewhere?

Introduction
The ethics of human cloning has become a great issue in the past few years. The advocates for both sides of the issue have many reasons to clone or not to clone. This is an attempt to explore the pros and cons of human cloning and to provide enough information of both sides of the arguments in order for the reader to make their own informed decision on whether human cloning is ethical or not. Cloning will first be defined. Then a brief explanation of why questions concerning cloning humans have arisen will be presented. Some things cannot be known for sure unless it is tested, i.e., human cloning is allowed. Followed by that, a discussion of the facts and opinions that support cloning will be presented and then the same against cloning. Please remember that not all of this has proven true nor is able to be proven yet, but has simply been argued as a scientific hypothesis. Finally, my own personal opinion will be stated.

Potential Harms and Disadvantages

• The possibility of compromising individualities.
• Loss of genetic variation.
• A “black market” of fetuses may arise from desirable donors that will want to be able to clone themselves, i.e., movie stars, athletes, and others.
• Technology is not well developed. It has a low fertility rate. In cloning Dolly, 277 eggs were used, 30 started to divide, nine induced pregnancy, and only one survived to term (Nash).
• Clones may be treated as second-class citizens.
• Unknown psychosocial harms with impacts on the family and society.
Conclusion
Cloning can revolutionize the world and the way we live or it may be so minimal that it would not affect us at all if it is allowed. [Two sentences taken out during update.] Is this the world you want to live in? Each person individually must decide for himself or herself if they believe that cloning should be allowed or if the governments should intervene with it.

http://thefarnsworths.com/science/cloning.htm

[gee bee]

On my Kindle, I just read a book called, 'Son of Man' by Charles Johnson. It's a semi-science-fiction story about a group of scientists and religious priests who find a way to reactivate dead DNA. So they take the 'Shroud of Turin' and reactivate what they think is Jesus' blood..! And then find a donor who agrees to become Jesus' Mother..! (not by chance, Her name is Mary...)

Of course, the book really hones in on what would happen, if Jesus returned as a clone and how would 21st Century society receive him..?

Haven't finished the book yet, so I can't tell you the outcome, but you can begin to see the social and moral dilemmas of this subject.

As an afterthought, I'd ask myself, what would happen if a bunch of ex-Nazis decided that it would be a great idea to clone Hitler..?

Or some die-hard Communists thought that cloning Stalin would be great for a second time around..?

Or some scientists decide that Einstein could add to furthering research in Relativity..?

It doesn't take too much imagination to cobble a lists of potential 'good ideas,' Walt Disney, Jack the Ripper, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Oscar Wilde, Churchill, John Wayne, Martin Luther King, or even your Mother-in-Law..!

[Ed]

Every identical twin is a clone, but even they will develop a different personality due to variations in their life experiences and slight differences that occur in the womb during development. Recently we've discovered that some few DNA mutations will happen after the fertilized egg begins to divide in the womb, so even identical twins are in truth not identical.
Any cloning of hominids would require obligations to provide for the clone through out their life. When it comes to animals this will become difficult with members of an extinct species, because they may have become extinct due to their food source disappearing... if we could establish what their food was.
Because the womb plays an important part in the development of mammals, & even in some non mammals, this will be an obstacle in cloning extinct species. It is thought that the indian elephant will be close enough to the woolly mammoth to become a surrogate, but we can't be sure until several are implanted with eggs containing fertile mammoth DNA.
I see no problem living with cloned humans but since some people seize upon any difference to discriminate against fellow humans, they will experience some discrimination. Regardless of the situation we will have to enact laws protecting clones & perhaps require a bond set aside to support them should something go wrong.
A big problem will be premature aging among clones because of telemere length. The telemeres shorten each time a cell divides until it eventually becomes too short for a cell to divide, therefore the animal ages & dies. It would be best if we could clone from a very young donor.