Cloning is a fascinating subject but it has also been very controversial. There is no unanimity or even a consensus either in favor or against cloning. Scientists have their views, ordinary folks have their opinions, there are religious views and bipartisan critics raise moral, ethical and social issues. At a time when there are attempts to clone animals, foods and even humans, one must conduct an objective assessment of the various merits and demerits of such a development. Here are some of the pros and cons of cloning animals.
List of Pros of Cloning Animals
1. Cloning animals will allow scientists to develop identical copies of select animals.
This can help in developing identical organs that can be used in transplantation. Whether it is tissue transplantation or organ transplants, cloning animals can help the various species of animals.
2. Animal cloning can be used to save endangered or revive extinct animals.
Although it is not fully established how extinct animals can be revived through cloning, the declining numbers of severely endangered species can certainly be reversed.
3. Cloning animals can help overcome the challenges of testing medicines and various medical procedures on animals that are not born and raised in captivity or captured from the wild.
The experimentations can happen on animals that are cloned in a lab.
List of Cons of Cloning Animals
1. Cloning will inevitably lead to mutations and we don’t really know the true scope and potency of such mutations.
Cloning is heavily influenced by somatic cells. Mutations of somatic cells can lead to animals having quaint features. The characteristics resulting from the mutation may be harmless or they can be very threatening. They can threaten the cloned animal and can even be a threat to humans.
2. Cloning animals is not simple science, pseudo science or science fiction.
There can be horrible fallouts. The cloned animals may suffer from unexplained health conditions, they may be physically weak or improperly formed, they may suffer premature death or premature ageing and there can be many unknown or unforeseen side effects.
3. Cloning animals is not a cheap exercise.
If practiced widely, it could cost billions of dollars. There is really not much sense in spending so much money, resources, expertise of skilled scientists and infrastructure to develop something that doesn’t really have any consequential impact on the lives of billions of people in the world. There is little to suggest that the world would be a better place if cloning is indeed successful.
4. There is limited scientific data and thus understanding pertaining to cloning.
Biologically, cloning doesn’t help evolution and genetic diversity is severely impaired. This goes against the very quintessential element of existence.
