Should Human Cloning Be Illegal

Surgery. Cars. Interracial marriage. Each of these were seen as morally or legally wrong at one point or another in the last two centuries, yet each of these is widely accepted in the world we live in today. The fears and uncertainties that surround society's view of human cloning today are just the latest iteration of the fear that always surrounds a great new scientific development. The advent of the printing press, the radio, computer games and the internet; each of these was seen as the end of the rational world as it was then known[1]. 'Human cloning' doesn't have to mean the mass body-farms of The Island (2005)[2]. In 2014 scientists successfully cloned adult human stem cells for the first time, opening the gateway to part-cloning humans on demand [3]. In the near future humans in need will be able to grow the replacement organs they need, grown from their own cells. No years-long wait on dialysis, no fear of the transplanted organ being rejected, the cloned human organ will grant them a new lease on life - literally. Naturally the certainty is not yet there, but the vital medical research to continue in years to come will allow the greatest possible certainty long before any attempts to bring whole new humans to life. There are no known medical issues that endanger an individual donating their cells for research purposes, which means the safest course is to continue research openly and academically, not to relegate it to black market or rogue nation actors. One day our species may reach a point where we are no longer so heavily overpopulated on our little world, and there is a need for humans to be artificially grown. Possibly a mass-efficient means of generating a sustainable population of colonists on a new world? Possibly in the wake of a world-wide pandemic? Though there may be no need today for the cloning of full human individuals, it is no less vital to continue the research today while we have the luxury of time and certainty. Waiting until we desperately need the scientific knowledge to begin research only guarantees we will not have it when we as a society want it. There will undoubtedly be some who agree with the esteemed Pro and fear a potential loss of identity from some future date when a woman may have two or three cloned sisters. To them I say, are identical twins any less individuals because they are born with the same DNA? Certainly some share a special connection, but they each know who they are and over the years of their lives. If either is suspected of a crime, their origins do not preclude their being identified from DNA evidence. There are special tests which can differentiate individuals with the same DNA based on the epigenetic changes caused by lifestyle, environment and disease and these would likely be exactly as effective with clones as they are with identical twins[4]. In summary there is no need for humans to be cloned en masse in the world of today, but there remains a pressing need for the research that makes this possible. Life-saving research, that will bring cloned human organs from science-fiction to science present, and close the black market body farms for good. [1]: http://www.slate.com... [2]: http://www.imdb.com... [3]: http://phys.org... [4]: https://www.newscientist.com...