Cloned monkeys fuel concerns about science

Last year, the Chinese cloned a Beagle puppy from a genetically edited parent, and in 2018 they have picked up where they left off. Monkeys have been cloned in a Chinese lab, raising both fear and hope. It seems that nothing can stop humans’ relentless attempts to “play God”, and even ethical debate will at best delay, not pre-empt, scarier future advances.
The puppy’s birth in a Chinese lab last year went largely unnoticed, with the world preoccupied with many other things. The development was highly significant, however, as the puppy was cloned from a parent whose genetic conditions were brought about by humans. The parent’s genome was edited to make it carry the atherosclerosis disease, a leading cause of stroke and heart disease. For some reason, the parent alone was not enough for a medical study, so a clone was made, and inherited the illness.
Combine the puppy development with the monkeys’ cloning and the ethical alarm bells are sounding louder. Cloning has always been controversial, but the technology had not attracted much attention since the cloning of sheep Dolly in 1996. What has happened in China’s labs has reignited concerns, belatedly or not.
As with previous cloning breakthroughs, the latest achievements have generated a combination of excitement, promises, worries and downright fright. The advancing technology is a testament to human beings’ ability to create, possibly of going out of control, and tendency to mix up good and evil. The puppy and monkey cloning will benefit medical progress, proponents say, but critics foresee an ethical slippery slope.
The revived concern, again, has revolved around the growing possibility of human cloning. All scientific indications are that such a development is now very likely, and can be stopped only by a moral crusade, not technological hiccups.
What’s wrong with human cloning? A lot. To begin with, sexual evolution benefits progress and development more than “exact copies”. Some may argue that cloning plus genetic editing can help create “better results” than the “original”, but such a combination of cloning and tailored genes can lead to an entirely new problem. There are fears that yearning for “perfect” beings will be amplified by cloning technology and lead to gruesome scenarios.
Scientists have called on the world to start seriously debating the possibility of human cloning. Some have been quoted as saying that although reproductive cloning of humans could be technically feasible in the short term, that does not mean that it should be performed. The scientific community cited, as examples, potential troubles like “developmental abnormalities” or poor welfare of possibly cloned children.
The days of commercialised cloning may still seem far away, but it is agreed that the indications are alarming. The technology may be restricted now to cloned lab animals that will suffer “for the greater good” – medical advancement of mankind – yet worries about things going down an ethical slippery slope are genuine.
The world has seen enough abuses of technological discoveries to be truly apprehensive about the future. Nuclear breakthroughs have put everyone on edge, with grave concerns overshadowing their promises. Drones have been used to take aerial photographs and perform the business task of fast delivery, but they are also playing an increasing role in modern-day warfare. Cloning, many people believe, will end up just the same – a threat to humans’ morality.
One thing that the man on the street cannot do is block scientific achievements and their abuse. Cloning provides one of those situations in which ordinary people can only hope for the best and expect the worst.