Cloning Ethics

So, cloning. Where do I start? This is not a subject that I think anyone can be totally objective about. Therefore, I am writing from a personal point of view.

Where did it start? And where is it all going to end?

I must admit that the whole idea scares me a little...

We have to be subjective about the ethics of cloning, though, as it really is so totally personal. I mean, everybody has different ethics, after all. None of us have exactly the same viewpoint as anyone else so how to proceed?

Well, as I said, it has to be subjective so ethics, here I come!

Okay, first of all, what are the benefits of cloning? I think that one is obvious. We can clone cells that are healthy and therefore save lives. We can also clone body-parts so that will have a major impact on health issues as well.

The ethics of doing these things, I have no real problem with... (It still nags at me, though). After all, we daily take parts out of people and implant them into other people. Nobody really seems to have an ethical problem with that. Although, there are certain schools of thought, usually religious ones, that believe that even this practice is wrong. I cannot speak from their point of view but fully appreciate that everyone has the right to their own ethic, be it religious or not, as long as that ethic does not directly or indirectly affect anyone else in an adverse fashion.

So what about the ethics involved in cloning for the common good? By this, I mean cloning animal cells (for food) and

also plant cells, GE (Genetic Engineering). Although GE is not cloning per se, it does still involve changing things at a cellular level, which still creates an outcome that couldn't have happened naturally.

Well, personally, I am all for GE. As long as the powers that be make it clear for all those that want to know, that their product has been produced in this way. We have way too much imbalance in this world, in terms of food and hunger, that I would feel unethical to stand against this and say "Let's NOT feed the world if we can".

I am, however, a little concerned about the ethics of cloning cells purely for the purpose of making our lives easier. I just feel that cloning somehow makes a mockery of Creation. I cannot purport to know what Creation is, or how it came to be. BUT, it is extremely precious and I, personally, feel sad that we feel the need to play around with this.