Life and Death with Clones

Now that cloned pets are being offered for sale, the debate over them is increasing. The usual suspects - animal rights groups - are fighting to ban cloning. Other groups aren't comfortable with the idea of cloning in any form.

For example, California may ban pet cloning while Great Britain has just approved cloning of horses.

A member of the California legislature is introducing legislation to ban the sale of cloned and genetically modified pets in the state. This is in response to animal-rights groups who hate the idea of any pet but scientifically-enhanced ones most of all.

The company (Genetic Savings & Clone) that produced the $50,000 cloned cats in the news last year is based in Sausalito, California and plans to offer dog cloning services later this year.

It's unlikely this will be the only company offering cloning. There already are companies that store the DNA of pets for their owners and another high-tech company expects to offer a genetically-engineered hypoallergic cat later this year.

The company offering cloning defends its work on the basis that it's making pet owners happy. There are no scientific investigations yet on whether the birth of cloned pets will cause any greater health problems than a normal birthing. Genetic Savings & Clone states that there have been no miscarriages and no health problems reported from the cloned cats.

Rather than medical problems, the issues raised seem to arise from the fear of high-tech and ethical questions. Is it just superstition and fear of the unknown? Are there ethical or religious reasons to ban the cloning of Fido and Fluffy?

The least viable argument to me is that we already have a dog overpopulation in shelters. We have an overpopulation of dogs that people don't want because they're too big or too difficult to handle. Try to find a puppy or nice small dog in your local animal shelter.

Is cloning worse than normal birthing? I don't think so. To me cloning is the most advanced form of scientific breeding. We breed dogs for temperament (hopefully) and appearance so why not jump over several generations of breeding and clone a dog where we can be as certain as humanely possible that he will be a delightful dog.

I do find it ironic that so many groups are fighting cloning of pets while so few raised any objections to the state sanctioned killing of Terri Schiavo.

I never thought America would allow a disabled woman to be starved to death to suit her husband's whims. Not only is that the case but a majority of Americans believe they and we have the right to decide if a disabled person's quality of life is worth keeping her alive or not.

I do believe in the right of a competent adult to decide whether to end his/her life. What I don't believe is causing the death of a disabled person who is in no pain and who could have lived for years otherwise when there is no documentation of that human being's wishes.

I’m afraid the claim by a “husband” who’s fathered two children by another woman and spent 7-years in the courts fighting for the right to have his wife starved to death that he was only doing what she wanted isn’t believable to me.

March 31, 2005 is a sad day for the state of ethics in America, but the cause is related to the poor quality of human beings such as Michael Schiavo rather than the threat from cloned kittens and puppies.

Expect to read about more legislation on cloning and decide for yourself if you want to support cloning bans in your state.

As to situations like Terri Schiavo, please prepare an advanced directive for your relatives so they know what your wishes are in the event you are incapacitated.

There are two forms of advanced directives:

Living Wills dictate circumstances under which you do not want medical treatment to be kept alive. Visit http://www.uslivingwillregistry.com/forms.shtm for information.

The Will to Live states your general wishes on treatment but leaves the decision to a guardian named by you. Visit http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/willtolive/index.html
for information.

What either the Living Will or Will to Die do is protect your family from the pressure of hospital or health care agents to end your life and cut their expenses and effort.

Two things to keep in mind:
1. Do you really know how you would feel if faced with a prolonged disability? When you're healthy or 25-years-old, it's easy to say 'I'd rather be dead than in a wheelchair'. Do you mean that?

2. Beware picking a transient relationship for your guardian. That means blood relatives often are a better choice than spouses or significant others. Lovers come and go but fathers and mothers are forever. Do you think Terri Schiavo ever believed her husband Michael would have her starved to death?

Please think this over and make a careful decision. If you know any disabled people that you care about, make certain they prepare some type of advance directive and provide copies to their doctors and hospital.

An advanced directive may be the only chance a disabled people have to live to a natural death should a family member decide they're too expensive or inconvenient to continue to let live.