Name: Alex
Religion: Atheist
Are You For, Against or In-between?: In-between
Why?:
I think it's dependent on the reasons needed. It has both benefits and possible problems. Complete human cloning seems morally wrong, even if the DNA was altered so it wasn't an exact clone, is this "creation" now a human? Is it living? Has it got the same rights?
Cloning individual parts has its merits. If a person has to lose a body part or vital organ due to injury or disease, cloning a new part would allow this person to continue living as if nothing had happened, something all of us would value if we were in the situation. Although, again ethically, could this be used wrongly?
Animal cloning is a little different, as much as we have pets and care about animals, no-one can disagree that we make use of them. Whether for working or for eating or other raw materials. Cloning an animal could have advantages in regards to the way the animal is developed. If a clone of an animal which carries more meat, produces more milk or is stronger to do more work, it could prove beneficial to society as a whole. Cloning an animal with an immunity to a disease could also be so and how different is this from breeding certain animals together to achieve the same thing? Something done for 100s of years. Saving animals from extinction?
In all, it depends really on its applications. I think cloning could have massive and remarkable benefits if used in a way which feels ethically correct. The question is what do people deem is ethically correct?
And now I should go write my 3000 word essay on something completely different!