Argument: Cloning should be allowed for those who can’t otherwise have a child

The desire to have one’s own child and to nurture it is wholly natural. The longing for a child genetically related to oneself existed long before biotechnology, but it is only recently that medicine has been able to satisfy it. In vitro fertilisation remains an imperfect technology. Couples typically submit to four cycles of costly treatment before producing a child as the chances of having a child can be as low as 10%. [1] Evidently, the technique does not assist homosexual couples, couples where both partners lack gametes, or where the female partner suffers from a mitochondrial disease. Cloning would allow a child to be born to all these couples.

[1] Wildsen S., Human Cloning – role of the scientist, West Virginia University, http://www.as.wvu.edu/~kgarbutt/EvolutionPage/Studentsites/cloningpage/PROS2.html , accessed 08/20/2011

Candidate 1: "Cloning will lead to eugenics, or the artificial manipulation and control of the characteristics of people. An American geneticist, Dr. Dan Brock, has already identified a trend towards ‘new and benign eugenics’ that is perpetrated by developments in biotechnology. This can particularly be seen on a small scale with ‘designer babies’. [1] When people are able to clone themselves they will be able to choose which type of person shall be born. This seems uncomfortably close to the Nazi concept of breeding a race of Aryan superhumans, whilst eliminating those individuals whose characteristics they considered unhealthy. The ‘Boys from Brazil’ scenario of clones of Hitler, the baby farms of ‘Brave New World’, or even the cloning or armies of identical and disposable soldiers, might soon be a very real prospect.

[1] BBC News, Designer baby row over US clinic, published 03/02/2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7918296.stm , accessed 08/22/2011"
Candidate 2: "Cloning will lead to a lack of diversity amongst the human population as it is creating genetic copies rather than increasing diversity by mixing genes. [1] The natural process of evolution will be halted, and as such humankind will be denied development, and may be rendered more susceptible to disease.

[1] ThinkQuest, Disadvantages of human cloning, http://library.thinkquest.org/C0122429/ethics/disadvantages.htm , accessed 08/20/2011"
Candidate 3: "Human reproductive cloning is unnecessary. The development of in vitro fertilisation and the practice of sperm donation allows heterosexual couples to reproduce where one partner is sterile. Moreover, merely 300 babies are adopted each year in the United Kingdom. [1] It might be better for potential parents to give their love to existing babies rather than attempt to bring their own offspring into an already crowded world.

[1] Thompson, Joanna, ‘Is Adoption A Better Way’, CARE Centres Network, http://www.ukadoption.com/great-britain/is-adoption-a-better-way.html"

Human reproductive cloning is unnecessary. The development of in vitro fertilisation and the practice of sperm donation allows heterosexual couples to reproduce where one partner is sterile. Moreover, merely 300 babies are adopted each year in the United Kingdom. [1] It might be better for potential parents to give their love to existing babies rather than attempt to bring their own offspring into an already crowded world.

[1] Thompson, Joanna, ‘Is Adoption A Better Way’, CARE Centres Network, http://www.ukadoption.com/great-britain/is-adoption-a-better-way.html
