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Nicholas Hargett

Shelby Stanard

English 1201

8 August 2021

How Ethical is Animal Cloning?

Animal cloning is a modern and effective way at producing new offspring. It involves

enucleating an egg cell, or gamete, and transferring another animal’s DNA into the enucleated

egg cell. This process has been studied well and perfected by many scientists, in fact, a whole

industry has been created that aims to bring deceased pets “back to life” by cloning. However, as

this process is perfected and enhanced, calls to clone humans have been made, in addition the

industrialization of cloning. This view on cloning makes many scientists skeptical about the

ethicality of cloning.

Since the birth of a cloned sheep named “Dolly” in 1996, the cloning process has been

studied further and refined. While attempting to clone Dolly, it took 277 embryos and 29 embryo

implantations. In addition to sheep, pigs, cows, and rodents have also been cloned, which

probably took around the same or more attempts to successfully clone. These attempts at cloning

have resulted in the suffering of many animals who were used as test subjects (Carey).

The controversial methods and uses of cloning have made cloning the subject to

legislation by many countries and organizations, including the European Union. The European

Union began their crusade of legislation in 1997, a year after the successful cloning of Dolly the

sheep. The most significant proposal by the European Union is in their 2013 proposal that aims
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to restrict animal cloning because it is an animal welfare hazard. In addition, a study under the

direction of the council discovered that surrogate mothers suffer from an increased amount of

placenta dysfunctions and miscarriages (Vaqué).

As animal cloning slowly becomes more efficient and practiced, human cloning will

become possible in the very near future. Despite constant progression in the study of animal

cloning, there is still so much to be done. For the surrogate, placental malfunctions are common,

and it is no better for the cloned embryo. Among the many disorders associated with animal

cloning are respiratory distress and large offspring syndrome, wherein the offspring is

abnormally large. In the event that the offspring does manage to survive, they are robbed of a

normal and healthy life. If so many problems still exist in animal cloning, imagine the outcome

of human cloning (Jaenisch and Wilmut).

After evaluating the possible ethical flaws in animal cloning, it would be wrong to ignore

the avenue of opportunities that lie within the field. Firstly, cloning provides the possibility for

hopeful parents that are unable to have children to have the chance to bear a child of their own.

Secondly, cloning can be used to artificially strengthen an endangered species, which helps

strengthen genetic diversity. Additionally, it allows the reproduction of offspring without the

stress of labor (Lanza, Damiani, and Dresser).

In addition to legislation proposed by the European Union, the United States also wanted

to offer insight into the process of animal cloning and the possibilities of human cloning as well.

Understanding the process of animal cloning is imperative to being able to analyze the ethics that

revolve around the science. In addition to describing the process of animal cloning, the article

also divulges into a possible method of human cloning to study embryonic development

(Scientific Aspects of Human and Animal Cloning).

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In order to properly divulge into the ethicality of animal cloning, it is important to

understand the outcome that cloning has on animals. Unfortunately, this can be hard to do, as

most cloning experiments are undertaken in closed laboratories and farms. Despite this lack in

information, the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) states that 96-99% of all cloning

experiments are unsuccessful and result in animal suffering, including death and deformities. In

addition to this lack of transparency by laboratories, there are also invisible signs of evidence

that serve as a hint to the ethics of animal cloning, particularly Dolly the sheep. Dolly seemed

normal on the outside, however there was no way the public could see signs of early arthritis and

elongation of her chromosomes’ telomers, which are believed to be the main cause of aging.

Because of this, the public view of cloning often disregards the suffering of animals (Carey).

As animal cloning becomes further researched and publicized, its many applications and

issues have been discussed. Hopeful scientists wish to utilize cloning to rescue endangered

species and help restore the endangered populations. However, this action threatens endangered

species, mainly due to the risk cloning has on the individual, but also to the future of the

population, as unfavorable genes could be introduced into the gene pool. Additionally, some

farmers and scientists wish to use animal cloning to select favorable traits in farm animals, and

although this is more precise than traditional selective breeding, animal cloning presents great

risk to the surrogate and the clone offspring, which can lead to many neonatal failures and

injuries to the surrogate (Ibtisham, F., et al.).

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Works Cited

Carey, Jessica. “Taking Responsibility for Cloning: Discourses of Care and Knowledge in

Biotechnological Approaches to Nonhuman Life.” Journal of Agricultural &

Environmental Ethics, vol. 28, no. 3, June 2015, pp. 589–599. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1007/s10806-015- 9544-0.

Jaenisch, Rudolf, and Ian Wilmut. "Don't Clone Humans!" Science, vol. 291, no. 5513, 2001, p.

2552. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A73355891/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=416d0b98. Accessed 11 July 2021.

Scientific Aspects of Human and Animal Cloning [Electronic Resource] / President’s Council on

Bioethics. Washington, D.C. : The Council, 2002, 2002. EBSCOhost,

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search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=edsgpr&AN=edsgpr.000546437&site=eds-

live.

Vaqué, Luis González. “The Cloning of Animals for Farming Purposes in the EU: From Ethics

to Agri- Food Law.” European Food & Feed Law Review, vol. 9, no. 4, Aug. 2014, pp.

223– 232. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=fsr&AN=99247697&site=eds-

live.

Lanza, Robert P., et al. "Cloning Benefits Animals." Do Animals Have Rights?, edited by

Jamuna Carroll, Greenhaven Press, 2005. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010309211/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark- OVIC&xid=783937d8. Accessed 18 July 2021. Originally

published as "Cloning Noah's Ark," Scientific American Magazine, 19 Nov. 2000.

Ibtisham, F., et al. “Animal Cloning Applications and Issues.” Russian Journal of Genetics, vol.

53, no. 9, Sept. 2017, pp. 965–971. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1134/S102279541709006X.

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