Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 39, Issue 7


Volume 39, Issue 7. Today is .

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Volume 39, Issue 7
December 4, 2001

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Forcing nature just isn’t natural

BY Justin Lambright
Mesa Legend

Not to sound contrary, but I really do hate to agree with George "Dubya." However, for whatever reasons, I do agree with the opinion that human cloning is wrong.

I stated in a previous column (Researches Walking on Eggshells - Aug. 20, 2001) that I didn’t believe in fooling around with nature. There is a reason for these various woes of the human immune system.

Overpopulation of the Earth, etc., are side effects of messing with nature.

And now, Advanced Cell Technologies, (ACT), in Worcester, Mass., has announced the successful cloning of a six-cell embryo.

This is the first step in creating a problem that could get out of hand quicker than a chemistry lab manned by hyperactive first graders.

Sure, do what you want with your life. C’est la-vie, whatever.

But when is man going to realize, regardless of one’s theological beliefs, we shouldn’t be "playing god."

I am not an avid Star Trek or X-Files fan. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I’m not a holy-roller or bible thumper or religious fanatic. I do not believe that the government is going to start cloning people to raise a superhuman army.

I just don’t believe that we, as humans, need to be creating situations that we ultimately cannot control.

One government says it is illegal to clone humans, or sheep, or anything at all.

The House passed legislation which would make such research illegal in the United States, but it was stalled by the Senate, not allowing the regulations to go into effect.

Therefore, ACT, was legally able to continue research and clone the embryo.

But not all other governments have such laws and regulations.

The argument on cloned organisms has to go this direction —

When is it alive? If it goes to full gestation, does it have a consciousness? Does it have a soul? If so, when does it have a soul? Is it murder to kill a clone in the process of research? What about organ harvesting? When is the absurd considered offensive?

I cannot answer any of these questions for anyone else. I can’t even answer most of these questions for myself.

It hurts my brain to think about this scenario too much, so rather than rack my psyche for a moral cut-off point for cloning; I feel that cloning (just like in-vitro) should be a moot point.

Leave cloning up to the science fiction fanatics.

Leave organ harvesting up to urban legend storytellers at Halloween slumber parties.

And I feel sorry for the politicians left to decide the bio-ethics of cloning and the possible repercussions thereof.

History has taught us nothing about cloning because it’s never been done.

Speculations can be made.

Then again, Custer speculated that he would win the battle of Wounded Knee. Einstein regretted that his theories of matter and relativity were used to create a weapon of mass destruction.

Even upon his death, he was in an emotional depression aware that his knowledge was used to kill millions of innocent people. He had no pride in his research getting out of hand.

I do not know the names of the researchers at ACT that headed the project to clone a human embryo, but if this cloning gig gets out of control, will they have pride in their lives’ work?

I implore anyone who reads this column to search inside themselves and decide what is right or wrong in the matter of cloning.

Become passionate about it, write your congressional representatives to inform them how you feel, and make a difference with this before it gets ugly.