Clone Mammals Essay

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In the essay Clone Mammals…Clone Man?, written by Axel Khan he discusses the experiments being done on sheep oocytes enabling scientists to be able to reprogram a cell nuclei to develop into another type of cell and the possibility that one day we could achieve these same results within human cells. Kahn states that “it is now possible to envisage cloning of adult mammals in a completely asexual fashion.”(1997,2005, p91). Throughout the essay Kahn discusses dignity in relation to human cloning. Kahn reflects on the different issues that arise when justifying human cloning, questioning ones dignity and ethical perspectives. It could give someone the ability to survive a diseases or disorders that they may otherwise pass away from. Parents may also be able to ensure that certain genes are passed on to their offspring, or once sterile individuals will be able to have their own biological offspring. Kahn questions if these methods are really worth that of human life and its dignity. “human life – should never be thought of only as means, but always as an end. (Alex Kahn, 1997, 2005, p93). Cloning can also impose a threat on humanity; he compares what society would be like if parents were allowed to have biological predetermination, giving them the ability to choose key traits of their offspring and the unpredictability of one’s offspring during natural development. Individuals are becoming fanatical with their genes being passed on to their offspring; they do not seem to think about the ability to pass on emotional and cultural traits as well. References Khan. A (2005). Clone Mammals…Clone Man? In S.D. Scott, D. Perkins, & E.Rothwell (Eds.), Intersections: Readings in the sciences and humanities (2nd ed., pp. 91- 93). Toronto, ON: Pearsons Educations Canada. (Reprinted from The
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