| Re: New True Debate #2: Jallman vs Billo_Really
One of the most widely discussed political hot topics of today is human cloning and the production of stem cell lines through recombinant dna technology. The technology has the potentital to eradicate many genetic diseases, eliminate organ donor lists, and make genetic birth defects a thing of the past. However, there is a loud, uninformed, and contentious voice in our society that is strongly opposed to the progressing development of this technology. Through an aggressive campaign of misinformation incitement of hysteria, the issue of cloning has gotten muddied.
Before any serious conversation about cloning can take place, we must dispell the myths about human cloning by discussing what it actually is. Cloning is simply the replication of biological material. There are three types of cloning: recombinant dna cloning, reproductive cloning, and therapeutic cloning. Recombinant DNA cloning utilizes technology that has been in use since the 1970's to replicate genetic material of interest for further study. Reproductive cloning actually takes genetic material from one organism to make a near identical replica. Therapeutic cloning involves the replication of embryonic stem cell lines to grow entire organs or to replace material that degenerates due to diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
Rarely, when discussing human cloning, is reproductive cloning at the center of the debate. The current pursuit is therapeutic cloning and for good reasons. However, the pro-life lobby has raised serious issues with the use of embryonic stem cell material. With its typical hysteria and misinformation campaign, they have hindered the advancement of a viable medical technology that could one day help millions and change the quality of life for every human being.
With proper oversight...that is to maintain the same quality of ethics that every other medical practice maintains, the advancement of therapeutic cloning in human beings can be a great tool for our society. The pro-life lobby has no place forcing its agenda into our public policy and hindering such valuable research. By allowing medical professionals and ethicists to apply the same standards of research to this achievment, we are in no more danger than when medicine was being pushed through the examination of cadavers in the 1800's. If we sort through the hysteria and the wildly contentious "what-ifs" proposed by the uninformed fear peddlers, it is evident that human cloning is not a danger, but a gift to our society. |