Proposal

Background

As technology advances , many new processes are also introduced . One area in Science and Technology that has exhibited one of the greatest and most controversial developments in the last few years is the area of Genetic Engineering , which is the alteration of an organism 's genetic or hereditary , material to eliminate undesirable characteristics or to produce desirable new ones (Brennan , 57 . Even within Genetic Engineering , which in itself is a new development , newer , more advanced and more controversial methodologies still evolve . From simple alteration of genes to produce simpler products

like corn , Genetic Engineering went into more complicated processes such as human cloning Now that the possibilities are discovered , the question becomes , is the world ready for these possibilities

The problem is that , despite the discovery of many beneficial uses for Genetic Engineering and cloning (See for example Brennan and Clarke the debates about whether they should be done still abound . Genetic Engineering is still not widely accepted . Many people still fear the possible negative effects of consuming genetically altered organisms (See for example Harris , 754 . The debate does not end here . The more challenging debate is the moral and ethical sides of cloning . For many people , cloning is unethical . Many reasons are raised in support of these positions , and if cloning , as a process , is to be successful these concerns have to be addressed one by one

Significance of the Study

It has already been proven that Genetic Engineering and cloning have great potentials . They have many uses and offer great hope for the future . However , as long as the challenges thrown against the field are not addressed , these potentials cannot be realized . This will try to throw light into this debate and help in answering the question , Is cloning ethical . This can contribute by either raising the acceptability of cloning , and thus helping the world and the technology field , or by enlightening proponents of cloning as regards its negative aspects , and thus saving them from making huge mistakes . Lastly , by doing research on a relatively new and controversial , this will be a valuable contribution to the academic field

Scope and Limitation

This will be an exploration of the history , trend , process and issues surrounding cloning and Genetic Engineering in general . It will focus more on the aspect of development and the different sides of the debate regarding the field , including the moral and the practical sides from the points of view of both the proponents and the critics . It will also contain the author 's personal views as regards the debate in response and in due consideration of the issues and arguments that will be discovered in the research

Literature Review

Several literatures already exist discussing many aspects of Genetic Engineering and cloning . The first of them is Bryan Clarke 's Quanta Cloning and its Ethics , which discusses the development and process of Genetic Engineering and explores some of the ethical issues it involves Next is Ben Zou 's Should Cloning be...