We went to watch the movie "Never Let Me Go", based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro, about a group of school kids who were cloned and brought up to be organ donors to "real" humans. I had mixed feelings after the show. No doubt the book is good (the author has his own style of writing that one either gets it or does not get it), and the movie captured the essence of the book, but still, the show left me wondering if it is even ethical to clone?
Just about a decade ago, there was a sheep who was successfully cloned, and she even had lambs with a male sheep. Since then, scientists have been trying to clone other things, most recently, humans. In the show, these "clones" are considered "duplicates", second class to the "originals", hence it is their organs who would be used to save "real" humans. Most of these "clones" could only have three organ donations before they themselves die off.
It is possible to defer the donation, provided one becomes a carer (caregiver to the donors), but even then, that would only be deferred for a couple of years the most. Once the donors are dwindling, the carers would be called upon to become donors.
Upon watching this show, I could not help but express my anger at the society that made these clones, giving them hope when young but actually they have no hope because they would all serve a purpose and die at a young age.
Which led me to the question : Is it even ethical to clone a human to take their organs, because "real" humans would not want to donate their organs? If we are to create a life, then should the life not be treated as a normal life, instead of a low-class duplicate? Afterall, I believe Dolly got all the care and concern from her "owners" before she passed away. No one used her to experiment on other sheep.
As of now, there has not been any human clone, as the DNA for humans are too complicated to make cloning successful. It is a relief though. In the near future, who knows, with society progressing the way it is and science and technology advancing everyday? But for now, I truly hope and pray that there will not be anyone trying to play God and create a "super" human, because that is going against nature and to me, I always feel being natural is the best.
Just about a decade ago, there was a sheep who was successfully cloned, and she even had lambs with a male sheep. Since then, scientists have been trying to clone other things, most recently, humans. In the show, these "clones" are considered "duplicates", second class to the "originals", hence it is their organs who would be used to save "real" humans. Most of these "clones" could only have three organ donations before they themselves die off.
It is possible to defer the donation, provided one becomes a carer (caregiver to the donors), but even then, that would only be deferred for a couple of years the most. Once the donors are dwindling, the carers would be called upon to become donors.
Upon watching this show, I could not help but express my anger at the society that made these clones, giving them hope when young but actually they have no hope because they would all serve a purpose and die at a young age.
Which led me to the question : Is it even ethical to clone a human to take their organs, because "real" humans would not want to donate their organs? If we are to create a life, then should the life not be treated as a normal life, instead of a low-class duplicate? Afterall, I believe Dolly got all the care and concern from her "owners" before she passed away. No one used her to experiment on other sheep.
As of now, there has not been any human clone, as the DNA for humans are too complicated to make cloning successful. It is a relief though. In the near future, who knows, with society progressing the way it is and science and technology advancing everyday? But for now, I truly hope and pray that there will not be anyone trying to play God and create a "super" human, because that is going against nature and to me, I always feel being natural is the best.
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