Human Cloning: The next step in evolution?

Over the past several years researchers have gained the ability to clone human embryos, screen individuals for genetic abnormalities, and use transgenic techniques to transfer genes from one species to another. Before science proceeds to much further, humanity must analyze the moral and genetic implications of such research. I came across this site today: CloneAid. This is the first “publicly” established Human Coning company founded in 1997 by Ral – “Ral is the leader of the Raelian Movement, an international religious organization which claims that life on Earth was created scientifically through DNA and genetic engineering by a human extraterrestrial race whose name, ELOHIM, is found in the Hebrew Bible and was mistranslated by the word “God”. ” The words of Ral:

Cloning will enable mankind to reach eternal life. The next step, like the ELOHIM do with their 25,000 years of scientific advance, will be to directly clone an adult person without having to go through the growth process and to transfer memory and personality in this person. Then, we wake up after death in a brand new body just like after a good night sleep!

Now I find the population of our planet by Aliens a little too X-Files for me but I’ve come to find that anything is possible. However, for only $200,000 USD you can be cloned by the CloneAid research group and life can continue a new for you. It’s like I just laid down, counted a few Dollys and woke up in the morning…a new human. That simple huh! WTF? Does this set of any alarms here? Apparently the primary push for this technology is to treat infertility. But how many more companies or governments are going to spring up with the intentions CloneAid has…or worse? Also, the big questions that pop up with me are: Who’s going to control this? Who’s going to regulate this? Even if you regulate this would you trust anyone to do it ethically and safely? Certainly not our government.

If you can’t find the fountain of youth, why not create it genetically right? If this is perfected, this could be the end of the human cycle of life. Think about it. This site talks about recloning everything from your pets, to making babies, to avoiding the inevitable end of life: If you didn’t want to die you could just reclone your body and transfer all your memories into the new one. But there can be some good from the creation of this technology right? Yeah, I think that’s what they said about nuclear weapons too. I deeply urge anyone that reads this to protest and ban human cloning. Besides narrowing the gene pool, risking genetic deformation, retardation, and any unknown genetic repercussions, you are also avoiding a key component of life – death. Accept it. It’s part of living. It’s inevitable and the soon you come to terms with accepting this the better off you are discovering how precious life really is. The advocates would say, exactly…which is why you should support cloning to promote healthier life and to give life to those that can not make it themselves. I believe more in life is sacred and natural. Don’t fuck with it and it won’t fuck with you. If you can’t have kids, then maybe you were not supposed to. If fact there are too many people out there having kids when they shouldn’t be…why not take one of there’s?

Rather than going off further on this here are some links to sites on this – both pro and open ended…
* The Reproductive Cloning Network
* The Human Cloning Foundation
* The Ethical Question

“And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
Abraham Lincoln