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ABSTRACT
The issue of human reproductive cloning has recently received a great deal attention in public discourse. Bioethicists, policy makers, and the media have been quick to identify the key ethical issues involved in human reproductive cloning and to argue, almost unanimously, for an international ban on such attempts. Meanwhile, scientists have proceeded with extensive research agendas in the cloning of animals. Despite this research, there has been little public discussion of the ethical issues raised by animal cloning projects. Polling data show that the public is decidedly against the cloning of animals. To understand the public's reaction and fill the void of reasoned debate about the issue, we need to review the possible objections to animal cloning and assess the merits of the anti-animal cloning stance. Some objections to animal cloning (e.g., the impact of cloning on the population of unwanted animals) can be easily addressed, while others (e.g., the health of cloned animals) require more serious attention by the public and policy makers.
WHAT IN 1996 WAS CONSIDERED a remarkable feat-the cloning of Dolly the Sheep-is today becoming almost commonplace. To date, scientists have successfully cloned many other species, including a cat, horse, gaur, rabbit, deer, chickens, cows, mice, goats, pigs, mules, and, most recently, a rat. In the works are projects to clone primates, dogs, and a host of endangered species. Despite all of this scientific research, there has been little public discourse on the many ethical issues raised by animal cloning projects. While it is not unusual for scientific innovation to proceed ahead of ethical reflection, what makes the absence of public debate on this issue odd is the decidedly negative view of animal cloning held by the majority of Americans. Polling data show a full 64% of Americans believe that animal cloning is morally wrong, yet there is almost no public discussion of this science and no demand for tighter regulations or governmental control over it (Saad 2004). In the absence of such discourse, it is impossible to know whether the public is making an informed decision about this form of animal biotechnology or whether objection to animal cloning represents a knee-jerk reaction to something foreign and unknown.
One explanation for the relative neglect of this issue is that,...