Another Slippery Slope

In a past article, I articulated the slippery slope that forms when you decide that to clone your pet is ethical. This time, I would like to point out another possible outcome of society's consent to pet cloning. Proponents of pet cloning maintain that the ability to clone working dogs is beneficial, because it is difficult to find dogs that have the temperament and personality to perform certain jobs, and cloning working dogs increases the odds of creating dogs that are appropriate for the jobs. If creating good working dogs is so helpful to humans, it will be argued that creating an animal that combines the positive aspects of dogs with those of different working animals, such as the intelligence of chimpanzees or the strength of horses, is even more beneficial. Scientists will create new species that exist only to serve humans.

The frightening reality is that different species of animals are already being combined in biological research. These animals are called chimeras, and the Wikipedia entry on chimeras says, “Some chimeras can result in the eventual development of an adult animal composed of cells from both donors, which may be of different species — for example, in 1984 a chimeric geep was produced by combining embryos from a goat and a sheep." Scientists are still studying the development of chimeras, but it is likely that they will soon be able to isolate and incorporate genes for specific traits. In that case, the possibilites are endless; why not combine a human with a chimpanzee to create an inferior race to serve as slaves?

Companies that will clone your pet say that there is a demand for pet cloning, so they are providing a valuable service. I have no doubt that chimeras made specifically to perform a function or provide a service would create a demand as big, if not bigger, than the demand for working dogs. Even if that is the case, does that make combining species an ethical commercial pursuit? If our society decides that pet cloning is ethical, then we are setting a dangerous precedent that will lead to the argument that creating chimeras is ethical.