Oppose All Cloning

Many people think it is harmless to allow people to clone a pet. They argue that creating a pet clone is a private decision and has no effect on others. The problem with this argument is that it does not take into account the effect that acceptance of pet cloning has on other aspects of the cloning controversy. As pet cloning becomes more widely accepted, more disturbing practices become tolerated. This includes the incorporation of cloned animal meats and products derived from cloned animals into the American diet. The only way to prevent this from happening is to take a stand on the issue of pet cloning now. Pet cloning is a gray area in the cloning controversy, and if it is allowed to go on, other areas of cloning will become less controversial.

Meat and milk that is taken from cloned animals is dangerous because its possible effects on humans are unknown. The FDA claims that it has found “no reason to expect that food from bovine clones would pose additional food safety risks compared with the same products derived from conventionally-bred cattle.” However, their conclusions are based on assumptions that once cloned bovines survive an unstable juvenile period, their development will proceed normally. Extensive studies have not been done on the effects of actually ingesting these products, though. It remains to be seen whether food products from cloned animals will have a detrimental effect on humans.

Already, our society has begun to embrace the idea of cloning. Restrictions on stem cell research have been reversed. Pet cloning has become a consumer-driven industry. If we continue on this path, our future may include cloned humans. To prevent the possibility of society's acceptance of human cloning, it is important to set a precedent of intolerance toward reproductive cloning of all kinds, including pet cloning.