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Conversely, many people hold different beliefs on the subject of cloning. In June 1998, President Clinton publicly condemned human cloning. He stated, "Any discovery that touches upon human creation is not simply a matter of scientific inquiry. It is a matter of morality and spirituality as well. Each human life is unique, born of a miracle that reaches beyond laboratory science" (www.thinkquest.org). Those who scorn cloning believe cloning of humans can never be ethical. They believe it confuses the concepts of family and parenthood, adding to the strain of modern family life (Jorge L.A. Garcia). It degrades the dignity of the person cloned by making him or her subhuman, a manufactured product. They believe it could lead to changing the human species and rejecting all children that do not measure up to parents' standards. A disadvantage given for cloning is that the diversity of genes that humans have to survive on Earth would diminish as cloning just copies identical genes. This will thus weaken humans' health and subject them to many diseases. Also, critics of cloning state that scientifically "manufacturing" a child will be like playing the role of god and that cloning undermines the basic elements of a loving and nurturing family and also as accepting each child as an unique individual. In addition, another proposed problem with cloning is that it could be manipulated and used to create an army of people for causing destruction or for slavery. E.V. Kontorovich, a professor of molecular biology from New York, writes, "Cloning would take the humanity out of human reproduction, and in doing so rob our spirits of something that cannot be replaced artificially" (99). He contends cloning is inhumane and there are no good reasons why it should be performed on humans. The proposed medical cloning uses for cloning are in fact unethical as they include the harvesting of organs from clones human fetuses. Although he believes cloning as a means of overcoming infertility is little better, he writes, "The relationship between the parent and his or her cloned child would be very ambiguous, and the clone might be viewed as a commodity that was made rather than a person who was born" (99).

Until recently, cloning was an idea found in science fiction; now, it is a reality.

cloning can benefit the lives of human beings in various ways. Moral and ethical issues

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