Tim wrote:
"David Robinson" wrote in message . au...


That is absolutely revolting and unnecessary! If human cloning is illegal
then by all means animal cloning should be too.


I disagree. It should depend on the reasons for which human cloning
was made illegal. If it is some misguided religious /
pseudo-moral/ethical reason, then you are correct in that human
cloning should be just as illegal and wrong as animal cloning.

But I think the main reason cloning of humans might be illegal and
animal cloning legal is because some animals are much easier to clone
than others. Thus we don't end up having to kill off 3500 non-viable
infant organisms for every one we succeed with.

When, we have to decide, is cloning no longer wrong? Is cloning plant
cells ok? How about bacteria or planaria? Are fish OK to clone,
lobsters, insects? Surely if it's ethically ok to clone a goldfish,
then a cat is no different.

It's a complex problem. With humans, I don't have objections to
terminating non-viable zygotes. It would be done when these are
just a few cells and no sense of suffering or even awareness of
their own existence. But there *is* a problem with who gets to
decide who is to be cloned and who isn't. The process is coupled
with genetic engineering and that's another very, very complex
issue. I thought it was simple until I got a book and started to
read up on what all the questions a For instance if you're
going to clone a person, presumably you'll want to do genetic
testing to prevent genetic diseases. At what point does a trait
become a disease? Suppose you can define skin colour? Suppose you
can define intelligence, gender and athletic ability,... Where
does it stop? Suppose a wealthy person deecides to clone a
servant class, with limited intelligence and submissive natures,
but strong backs. Suppose a nation wants to build athletes for
the Olympics. If we have problems now with performance enhancing
drugs, what happens when we're cloning high jumpers with legs like
grasshoppers. What would the lives of people thus cloned be like?
We have no knowledge of what harm we may be doing and it
requires a lot of thinking before we jump into somethingthat could
become a crime against humanity, or catmanity forthat matter.
If it were just a case of cloning a lost kitty so we could enjoy
their life again, or feel that we have not lost our dear friend, I
can sympathize with the feelings that drive that, but you can't
turn back time and there are plenty of cats in the shelters that
need homes. It's not hard to find one that needs our love.

--
Best Regards,
Fred Williams, (Jetadiah's hooman).