This is my informative review paper and my critical analysis of the paper in which I focused my research on reproductive cloning and why it can be successful  or detrimental towards society as a result.

Human Cloning in the 21st century 

Khushbu Shagor

ENGL 21003

Debra William

February 21, 2023

   In 2018, a Chinese scientist named He Jiankui shocked the scientific community by claiming he had created the world’s first genetically modified babies. He used gene editing technology to modify the embryos of twin girls to try to make them resistant to HIV without knowing the risks and ethical considerations. His experiments were all deemed as dangerous and unethical which raised lots of questions to be asked about the potential risks in gene editing in the future. Shortly after he was sentenced to three years in prison for his actions regarding gene editing. 

     Reproductive cloning has its advantages and disadvantages that comes along with everything. Reproductive cloning refers to the process of creating a genetically identical copy of an organism and has been successfully performed in several animal species, including sheep, cows, and dogs. More so, its use in humans is highly controversial and risky and has not yet been achieved due to ethical and technical limitations. Cloning has many ethical concerns that raises many questions about their practices. One of the main ethical concerns cloning has is the potential harm and risks of it. Clones could experience developmental abnormalities and health problems which was seen in  Dolly the sheep’s case and, who was the first mammal to be cloned and suffered from premature aging and developed a lung disease that she had to be euthanized because of those concerns. 

As said in an article by National Geographic,  National Geographic. (n.d.). Cloning animals: What is cloning and how are animals cloned? National Geographic Society. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/cloning-animals/. Reproductive cloning has been successful in some animal species; its use in humans raises ethical and technical challenges that must be carefully considered. Cloning may have some potential benefits in scientific research; it can also carry the risk of harm to the cloned individual and the potential for misuse.  The experiments were considered dangerous due to potential unintended mutations, unpredictable effects on other genes, and unknown long-term health consequences. In an article the text states “Even if technology advances to the point where human reproductive cloning, as it’s called, were a viable option — and as you’ve seen, we’re not even close — anyone suggesting that cloning can duplicate an existing human being is just plain wrong, says Stice.”  Overall it is important to approach this technology with caution and ethical consideration. 

      Structural racism refers to a system of social, economic, and political practices that advantage some racial groups and disadvantage others, based on deep-seated beliefs about race. Many manifestations of institutional racism exist, including the underrepresentation of minorities in STEM disciplines, prejudice in grant funding and publications and the exclusion of non-white perspectives from scientific discourse. By reinforcing racial preconceptions and biases, the politics of language around reproductive cloning can also support structural racism. It supports structural racism in ways where if someone wants to clone an animal they may want it to be a certain color and as for humans a specific race and color. As for Dolly the sheep, people may refer to her as “the black sheep” which is associated with the color black being something that is dehumanizing and relating to something bad or something that is associated with.  This structural racism is included in cloning because people can use the idea of color as associating with something good or bad, in certain situations people may want a white sheep in the case of Dolly the sheep instead of a black one because society may associate it with not good enough or something that is not appealing. The article states, “The ease with which cloning has been taken up in contemporary thinking has been made possible by the widespread saturation of the normative assumption of socio-cultural sameness underpinning much of mainstream modern thinking around politics, law, education, management, aesthetics, the military and processes of production.” Overall structural racism occurs in cloning. 

      In conclusion, learning about cloning and knowing how the process works is fascinating and is worth reading and learning about. Cloning is a way of remembering an old pet that has passed or maybe even a human that was close to you.  Cloning has many many disadvantages that have been mentioned above but there are also advantages that include getting to see something that resembles the face of an old pet or human if scientists are able to figure that out in the future.

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