cloning

Its a subject I have yet to debate. Best of wishes! First off I'd like to clarify, my opponent is Pro to cloning humans in the United States. This debate won't be bound by laws and or treaties of any other nation. ============== Case attacks; ============== "if you lost your child then there is always the clones that live on. " Adopting a clone would be just like adopting any other child (minus the health issues I will state latter) there would be no point because in reality, clones are only GENETICALLY identical not physically. This is due to envoronment conditions both in and outside of the womb. Clones are much more expensive than adoption due to success rates and lack of a wide use in the field. "Secondly if we have rights to clone animals, why not humans? " (You can thank Skeptic for getting me hooked on "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind") Because animals do not have rights, in order to obtain rights one must have consciousness. As said in "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by Julian Jayne, language is a must when it comes to being deemed "conscious". Because of this, they are also deemed nothing more than property and that's where property rights kick in. "Last is that think about the millitarys we could build, we could have gotten world war 2 done and over with using only ONE person. " What Pro is suggesting is unethical by all means! Pro deems a clone as lower than an actual being in society, to the point where they are nothing more than slaves. These clones are deemed as nothing but tools by Pro and should be a reason to reject the resolution! Also these clones would be subject to every amendment in the U. S. constitution so doing so would be impossible. ================ Case opening ================ I'd like to open my case on this note; Let us look at the problems that humans have already. We have not realized a peaceful world. There are many people who die needlessly from senseless violence over territory, ideas, or both. People of all ages, young and old, opt for abortion, while others offer babies for adoption (those children seldom have a stable home) and yet others neglect the children they have. Cloning shouldn't be on anyone's agenda. We aren't taking care of the human beings already here! ================================= Contention 1; Therapeutic cloning ================================= Cloning supports BAD stem cell research! Therapeutic cloning, or somatic cell nuclear transfer, is the immoral side of stem cell research. The method is to create an embryo so that it can be harvested of its stem cells which are "cloned" into different tissues. This method is not used to create cloned human beings, but to harvest them for organs and so called "treatments" for unnamed diseases. Other forms of stem cell harvesting are more preferable and ethical, such as adult stem cells and umbilical cord stem cells. Why bring a human life into this world only to harvest it? =================================== Contention 2; Reproductive cloning =================================== Cloning supports chaos in our crime and genetic identification systems! It would be impossible to figure out the DNA of a specific criminal when he or she has multiple genetically identical copies of him or herself. We would have say, a hundred of the same person imprisoned for the acts of one. Either all the innocent people are jailed or all the crooks are allowed to be freed, because of a phrase called "innocent until proven guilty". If we start reproductive cloning you can kiss the judicial system goodbye. Reproductive cloning comes with high risk factors! This method is very inefficient. More than 90% of attempts at cloning fail, the process could be done a hundred times and only work ONCE. If a viable offspring is produced there are also health factors, clones tend to have more compromised immune functions, higher infection rates, tumor growths, and other disorders. Most clones die "young" compared to other non-clones in their species. Also clones have mysterious deaths, they can appear to be fine even energetic and die within 5 minutes of that observations. Countless biopsy's have been done on these clones, but no one could determine the cause of death. ================================================ Contention 3; Thomas Malthus - Population growth ================================================= I will open this contention with a quote from Thomas Malthus. For those of you who are not familiar with him, you should look him up sometime. "The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race. The vices of mankind are active and able ministers of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of destruction, and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and tens of thousands. Should success be still incomplete, gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow levels the population with the food of the world. " Emphasis on "gigantic inevitable famine". The result of cloning would accelerate our population growth uncotrollably. We would run out of resources, particularly food which causes a worldwide FAMINE. Don't accept any "more people means more grown" argument, Malthus's theory of overpopulation can also tie to space. We don't have infinite land to keep that kind of cycle going, thus Pro accelerates the inevitable to the point where this could happen within 2 to 3 generations! The two proposed solutions in Malthus's theory are; "Malthus argued that population was held within resource limits by two types of checks: positive ones, which raised the death rate, and preventative ones, which lowered the birth rate. The positive checks included hunger, disease and war; the preventative checks, abortion, birth control, prostitution, postponement of marriage, and celibacy. " Rather than cause a positive or preventive check, cloning does the opposite of preventive checks by INCREASING birthrate thus if you give a Pro ballot, the only way we will be able to stop overpopulation's effects is by positive checks which means we must bring about disease, force starvation upon others, and kill one another in order to maintain the balance. Negated. ======= Sources ======= . http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org... . http://www.ornl.gov... . http://en.wikipedia.org... "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of a Bicameral Mind" I thank my opponent and the viewers for reading through that and once again, best of wishes. "Evil Disco"