Cloning Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cloning Issues - Essay Example Before any arguments can be discussed, we have to understand certain terminology involved in cloning. There are essentially three types of cloning techniques, DNA cloning, Reproductive cloning and Therapeutic cloning. While DNA cloning has been used in the laboratory for many years as an essential tool in Molecular Biology, it is Reproductive Cloning (Dolly the sheep was created using this technique) and Therapeutic Cloning (technique used to create stem cells) that are really the problem children of cloning. First let us look at therapeutic cloning which basically involves creating human embryos for use in research. The process involves the extraction of stem cells from blastocysts (fertilized eggs that have undergone divisions for around 5 days). From these blastocysts, scientists extract Embryonic Stem Cells which are Pluripotent i.e. they have the ability to form any type of cell given the right set of conditions. Many opponents to cloning say that the embryo represents a human being and that if it had undergone complete development, it would have produced a life, and thus the extraction was akin to murdering the unborn. The question here is, should the embryo be considered as a human being even though technically it is just a collection of cells And if not, then at what stage in its development can we consider that the embryo has life Then there is reproductive cloning which is the most debated of all cloning topics. Through reproductive cloning there is the possibility of creating human clones. Many arguments against human cloning involve the fact that the process of cloning has a low success rate. And should a clone be produced, then can the birth of such an individual be considered as unnatural Of course one could also argue that IVF is an unnatural form of reproduction, but then it has helped thousands of infertile couples. Another issue to be looked at is that the majority of animal clones that are created today have very low survival rates, with many of them having poor health and thus leading a short and compromised life. So if one were to create a human clone, that individual need not necessarily lead a normal and healthy life and instead may end up living a short and maybe agonizing life. Who should then be held accountable for the individual Also the concept of creating human clones for human farms where organs can be harvested for transplant patients is another area that has to be looked at. Can we really create human beings whose sole purpose in life is for their organs Don't these clones as individuals also have the right to live But the buck does not stop there; today rudimentary genetic screening is used on fetuses to determine whether they have any of the identifiable incurable genetic diseases and whether to abort the pregnancy. Though this technique has many benefits, one can also say that as individuals, do we have the right to decide who has to right to live and who doesn't And with such technology getting more sophisticated, where can we draw the line Very soon parents may look at other genetic traits and determine whether to abort a pregnancy, leading to a whole new form of discrimination. The thoughts put forward here are just some of the many topics that have to be debated by society as such to determine what is acceptable to the society

God's Responsibility for the Suffering of Innocent People Research Paper

God's Responsibility for the Suffering of Innocent People - Research Paper Example Natural evils whereby evil events, which man cannot control or does not initiate like floods, earthquakes and illnesses and moral evils which are caused by the free choices that man makes are the two types of evils that are found in the world (Fischer, Fischer & Hart, 117). Thinkers have advanced various ideas about evil with Thomas Aquinas stating that God created the universe with laws of nature that sometimes lead to evil, giving the example of the law of gravity that can make an object to hit someone’s head as it obeys the law. He concluded that God does not desire bad things to happen but allows them so as to respect the natural laws that he created. Job’s friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zopher tried to offer an explanation about the cause of the suffering, indicating that Job must have done something wrong to warrant the suffering, and we could probably from a worldly perspective conclude that much of that which happens to man is caused by human behavior Fischer, Fisc her & Hart, 119). The friends continue to remind Job that God cannot chastise an innocent person. Jesus Christ Himself admonished those who he healed to ‘go and sin no more’. ... hat He could do what He wanted, meaning that being God, he had reasons beyond man’s comprehension for doing and allowing things to occur the way they do. Job 40:2 asks,’ shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct Him? He that reproves God let him answer it. While the answer by God may portray arrogance, God means that there are things that He does in His wisdom, which man cannot understand, with man being able just to see the short term but God seeing the long term. In Job 38 and onwards, God answers Job, declaring His incomparable power over the whole universe, asking almost sarcastically where Job was when He laid the foundations of the world, signifying Jobs insignificance in judging or understanding anything that He does (Fischer, Fischer & Hart, 117). God describes further the majestic and wonderful creatures that He has made including leviathan who He is able to pull with a fish hook, and that it is He who controls them and satisfies their hunger. God in ot her words informs Job that He is the one responsible for all creation and also what thinkers and philosophers call the law of nature. Job 42 sees a changed Job who repents in dust and ashes as he admits that while he had in the past only heard of God, now he had seen Him, meaning he had understood about the wisdom of God and that he realized that all along, God had been in control of the situation. The story of Job concludes that to understand God, He must be let to be God, or in other words cannot be questioned in His actions since they cannot be comprehended. Job seems to have understood that the world remains what it is, with good and evil, chaos and order all coexisting, with the option being submitting to the mysterious power and will of God because in the midst of evil, He will control the