There are many legal implications of cloning people or animals. These implications need to be discussed and agreed upon before we proceed with cloning and genetic engineering of people or animals.
The main issue of cloning is the rights of the being or creature that is created by cloning. Do cloned beings have or deserve the same rights as those that are not cloned? I said that they do deserve the same rights but, I am positive that there will be backlash by the public and society.
Cloned people would become a new minority and would definitely be picked on by a lot of people in the world. They would be seen as second or third rate citizens, if that. I am sure that many people could not even see them as real people and shunned them from society. They would be beaten and killed because some people who would not see them as natural creations and consider it a sin to allow them to live. They would become the new class of people to pick on. Even minorities would pick on them.
Some of you might think that I am out of line by saying this but look around you, look at the news; there is bigotry and racism everywhere. It is done by and to real people. Imagine how bad it would be against people who are not even considered real? It would be a nightmare if the word got out.
This brings me to another issue that I read in a fictional science fiction book, called Spares by Michael Marshall. You can probably guess what it is about but I’ll give a quick synopsis. It is about a futuristic world with lots of fighting and injuries. Cloning is very advanced and the wealthy people have themselves cloned. All of the cloned people are kept on a farm and, whenever that real people have injuries, disease, or loss of limbs. The cloned people have that organ removed so that it can be used on the real people from which they are cloned. So, in essence, the wealthy keep copies of themselves to use as spare parts.
The legal implications of this story might seem far-fetched but think about it. I believe that, if we are given the right amount of technology, society will probably begin looking at the possibility of cloning people just to repair ourselves. This is very cruel and should not take place. In order for this not to happen, I believe that now is the time for us to look into it before the science fiction and becomes reality and we have to face the same problem.
