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Human cloning is human asexual reproduction. It may be accomplished by
introducing the nuclear material from one or more human somatic cells into a
fertilized or unfertilized egg cell whose nuclear material has been removed or
inactivated to produce a human embryo who is virtually genetically identical to
an existing or previously existing human being. This method is called somatic
cell nuclear transfer. Other methods of cloning, such as parthenogenesis, also
exist. Regardless of whether the embryo is subsequently implanted into a woman
and reaches the point of live birth or is destroyed for experimentation or
research, human cloning has occurred.
The Americans to Ban Cloning (ABC) coalition promotes a global ban on human
cloning for any purpose.
Human cloning must be banned because:
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Human cloning represents the commodification and possible
commercialization of human life.
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Human cloning would create a class of human beings who exist
not as ends in themselves, but as the means to achieve the ends of others.
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A ban on cloning as a means of producing live born human
beings will prove to be unenforceable unless it also bans cloning for any
other purpose -- including the use of cloning to produce human embryos as
sources of stem cells or for other experimentation. Referring to this latter
use of cloning as "therapeutic cloning" is prejudicial and misleading, since
it has not been shown that cloning is necessary for or useful in the
production of human therapies.
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Human cloning is exploitative human experimentation,
posing unnecessary dangers to the life and health of both child and mother.
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Human cloning upsets the social order by confounding the
meaning of parenthood and confusing the identity and kinship relations of any
cloned child.
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Human beings have a right not to be created as objects of
experimentation.
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Human cloning can lead to the reproduction of living or
deceased persons without their knowledge or involvement.
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Human cloning is an affront to the inherent dignity and
individuality of human life.
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Human cloning would be a gateway technology for the further
genetic manipulation and control of human beings.
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Human cloning misleads those grieving the loss of a spouse,
friend, or relative by promising what it cannot deliver, the bringing back of
a deceased loved one.
This gross misuse of cloning technology should be banned in the United States,
and other nations should be encouraged to enact similar bans. |
