Keeping Up with the Cloneses -- Issues in Human Cloning

Abstract

The advent of cloning animals has created a maelstrom of social concern about the “ethical issues” associated with the possibility of cloning humans. When the “ethical concerns” are clearly examined, however, many of them turn out to be less matters of rational ethics than knee-jerk emotion, religious bias, or fear of that which is not understood. Three categories of real and spurious ethical concerns are presented and discussed: 1) that cloning is intrinsically wrong, 2) that cloning must lead to bad consequences, and 3) that cloning harms the organism generated. The need for a rational ethical framework for discussing biotechnological advances is presented and defended.