By Madison Waldie Posted March 2, 2011
It seems that now there are more and more people who are doing their best to protect our planet, our species, and our wildlife. There are so many different organizations and clubs that devote all of their time to the welfare of the lives of animals and the temperature increase of our atmosphere. I think that these people are getting so caught up with theories like global warming, polar bears dying, and the big bang, that they don’t think about anything else.
When it comes to endangered species I feel like the most endangered species is the human race. There are some things that just shouldn’t be messed with and genetics and DNA are some of those things. When I first heard of “Designer Babies” I honestly can say that I felt sick to my stomach. The thought of picking and choosing what traits your future child would have is just not natural. How would you feel if your “perfect” baby came into the world with a rare genetic mishap causing it to lose its chance at life? Say the geneticist made a mistake and your newborn baby now has a life-threatening condition that wouldn’t have been there if not for the selfishness you possessed when trying to create the “perfect” offspring.
When some think of the “perfect” offspring they think of one just like them or a clone. Human cloning is becoming more and more relevant considering that scientists have succeeded in clones of animals including sheep, cows, a camel, and rats. Just like any other procedure of any kind, cloning has its cons. People think that a big advancement like cloning is going to have a great effect on society. They never realize or think about the negative effects. There are many cons that do physical harm to the clone. It could end up missing limbs and/or organs, but people never think of the other negative aspects.
Won’t cloning devalue mankind and undermine the value of a human life? I think so. My moral and ethical principles just don’t include cloning and other genetic experiments.
The people that are promoting and fighting for the use of these projects are often the people who are worried about animals and glaciers. I feel that human life is too precious to mess with. Yeah, you might have a beautiful baby that looks just like you or has the specific traits you wanted it to possess but there is also a chance you are going to give birth to a baby that will suffer painful surgeries and have a terrible start at life if something goes wrong.
If that isn’t selfish, I don’t know what is.
