Reproductive and Therapeutic Cloning

• Ethical issues: Religious critiques


  Cloning could be seen as usurping God's role as the giver of life or "playing God" by manufacturing human beings through technology.
• Ethical issues: Instrumentalisation


  if cloning is used to create an animal for a purpose desired by the third party, it violates the dignity of the cloned organism as they become a product rather than an individual with autonomy (also applies to animals)
• Ethical issues: Safety of cloned organisms (reproductive cloning)


  health implications for the cloned individual are not fully understood → creating human susceptible to early death → unethical
• EXAMPLES

  Plants: Clonal propagation of banana plants to produce genetically identical crops.

  Animals: Cloning of livestock, such as cattle, to reproduce desirable traits.
• Social issues: Food Security


  Clonal propagation reduces genetic diversity, making crops more vulnerable to diseases and pests, and posing danger to food security.
• Social Issues: Preservation of superior genetic traits


  produces livestock with uniform desirable traits such as high milk production or lean meat → higher quality meat with lower price → better food for lower class people
• Social Issues: Discrimination


  Cloned individuals may face stigma, rejection, or discrimination from society or their peers

  → division between cloned vs uncloned