Chapter 1

A. Introduction

Christ taught another way: it is that of respect for human beings; the priority of every
method of research must be to know the truth about human beings, in order to serve them and not
to manipulate them according to a project sometimes arrogantly seen as better even than the plan
of the Creator.

~ Pope John Paul II, 2004

Imagine a point in time where you would encounter someone who is exactly identical to
you. From the sheer symmetry of your face and body to the flaws and hairs in it. Also try to
visualize a point in time where other people have someone who looks identically like them.
Given the fact that you or they don’t have a twin wouldn’t it be an experience that will haunt you
for life? Or would this be a sight that many of us would want to see? Think of yourself as a
brand. You need to be remembered. What will they remember you for? What defines you? If you
have it in you, do something that defines you. Invent something, develop a unique skill, get
noticed for something — it creates a talking point (Chris Arnold). The fact that we are unique
with each other gives us the ability to be remembered by people around us. Then let’s think
about it what if that characteristic suddenly disappears? What if you are not unique anymore,
because now you have someone who is just like you? Would people still remember you and
acknowledge you? This situation would be really horrifying if it would happen.

In a life that is surrounded by competition, being unique is one of our asset it could be a
spring board for us humans to achieve our goal. In our life we are considered unique in some
way, but what if we can achieve much more sacrificing this characteristic. What if we could cure
cancer and other serious disease? What if we could even make the life span of us humans
extend? What if we could live forever just by sacrificing this characteristic? Would it be a
necessary sacrifice for the greater good? Would the result overweighs the outcome? This is some
of the questions revolving the issue of Cloning.
 In the constant debate of whether human cloning should push through or not. Are we
forgetting that we are mere humans and not gods? Or are we intentionally trying to play god,
throughout the years humans are constantly challenging God’s power and sovereignty. At that
point in time these actions and challenges are considered a leap in human’s knowledge yet it was
all in vain. From the Tower of Babel that was built by humans to reach the heavens to our
advancing technology that is continually destroying our planet, we humans try to improve our
society however we don’t realize that in our pursuit of knowledge we are sacrificing things that
are very valuable to us. Are we going to constantly sacrifice one characteristic to achieve
another? Will our sacrifice be in vain? Is knowledge and the advancement of our technology an
important thing for us that we are ready to do this kind of things? Will Human Cloning be one of
this advancement that will ruin our society? Or will it be one of those things that would bring
light to our life?

Throughout the years scientists are trying to prove that Cloning is one way to solve
numerous diseases such as diseases of the heart. But can this be really the answer? Can cloning
be the answer to increase the life span of us Humans? Can cloning be a way to attain
immortality? Death is one of the end point of us human, we cannot outrun death. But then again
can we outsmart death instead? The fact that we are trying to prolong our life span is a mystery
in itself. What is our true objective in achieving this kind of knowledge? Is it to unravel the
meaning of our very existence or is it to prolong our life because we are afraid of our death? The
fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die anytime
(Mark Twain). Does this mean that we are all afraid of life that is why we are also afraid of our
death? Haven’t we live fully that we are not prepared to die?

The First Human clone birth was announced last December 26 2002 and it was named
Eve. Eve was patterned to Dolly the sheep which was the first ever clone made. Eve undergone
caesarian section for her to be born. (Clonaid, 2007). It was shown in the experiments that the
life span of cloned humans or animals are not like those of the real ones. Both Eve and Dolly
died after several months due to major complications. This shows that the idea of human cloning
is not yet perfect. Nevertheless, in our advancing technology it would only take a couple of
decades for human cloning to be perfected. But do we really want human cloning to be
perfected? Would it really be necessary for our growth and development?
 Just like every idea there is Human Cloning has its pros and cons. One of the many
arguments that a Pro – Human Cloning states is that an identical twin is a natural Human clone.
Is it okay to say that an identical twins is unethical in itself? Wouldn’t it also be a great benefit if
you lose someone you dear, and because of human cloning you can make someone just like
him/her? Does it also harm anyone if you could cure diseases that kills numerous people every
day? But why are some against human cloning if this idea can give a great benefit to our society?
In contrast to its Pros, Human cloning can reduced the value of individuality of humans. This
idea could make our unique characteristics disappear. But is it that the only downside of human
cloning? Other people argue that as dolly and eve died prematurely due to complications we are
not assured that human cloning can be perfected. Due to the fact that we are embedding an old
cell to a young cell to create a human clone it is not highly unlikely that the age would be
imprinted to the growing embryo that would lead to faster aging (Freeman, 2011). Do the pros
outweighs the Cons? Or is it the other way around?

The debate of human cloning is going on for years. But one of the problem being
overlooked in human cloning is, should the idea of human cloning be perfected and create a
human clone that could live just like a real human wouldn’t it be a violation of their human rights
to use them as a tool for medicine? Or for them to be considered not as a human being but as an
instrument for us real humans to attain immortality? Will we put a blind eye to this growing
ethical problem? Or would we stop the idea of human cloning due to its ethical problem in the
infringement of the cloned human’s rights

B. Hypothesis

There is a massive ethical problem that human cloning violates regarding to cloned
human’s right.

C. Thesis Statement

Human Cloning is an ethical problem that cloned human beings face which involves their
human rights being violated as research tools and their overall safety.
 D. Statement of the problem

The study aims to answer the following

 Why human cloning is considered as a problem?

 What is the ethical problem regarding Human Cloning?
 What is the Ethical principle that is violated in Human Cloning?

E. Objective of the Study

The intention of the study is to examine the book Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
regarding the cloned humans and their situation in being a medical tool which violates their
human rights.

F. Significance of the Study

This study aims to help the current and future researchers of human cloning by giving
them idea of the massive ethical problem that they forgot to focus about, should they achieved
the idea of Human Cloning.

This study also aims to benefit those of current and future subjects of the experiments of
human cloning by giving the ethical problem that they will face, it could serve as a warning for
the researchers to consider stopping the experimentation in human cloning.

G. Limitation of the Study

In this study it only includes the 6th Book of Kazuo Ishiguro entitled Never Let Me Go
with the Genre of Science fiction. It was set in 1980 – 1990’s in a fictional yet similar world.
This study was limited to the book due to its focus on human cloning. Furthermore the study is
limited to giving information to the readers about human cloning. The study does not provide
any solution regarding the problem that researchers and subjects faces.