Stephen Grofcsik

David Hendler

Cloning is Unethical Behavior

February 22, 1997 scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland shocked the scientific community. (Federspell, Jeff , 256) The world stood in awe as Dr. Ian Wilmut explained the cloning of a sheep named Dolly. The fact that a mammal had been successfully cloned raised heated discussion on whether human cloning was possible and if it should be explored. Philosophers, theologians, and scientists debated whether human cloning is moral or ethical. Soon after the discovery, President Clinton enacted legislation to prevent federal aid to any project committed to human cloning and further asked that no such attempts should be made by any organization. Based on the knowledge held currently, cloning is an unethical action because it violates the inherent rights of humans, threatens the general welfare of society, and disrespects the autonomy and dignity of a human being.

In order for an action to be considered ethical it must not violate any inherent rights of human beings. Amnesty International is a worldwide campaigning movement who's purpose is to determine what rights human beings should be granted. Amnesty works to promote the rights listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Their adopted declaration contains the following: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person, no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms, and everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (Amnesty International) If an action violates any of these stated rights, it is unethical. For example, murder is deemed unethical by our society. When a person willingly takes the life of another human, he directly...