Learning Human cloning

A child who is a clone may be a very different child from all her peers. She looks like a normal child, having been born with the standard set of components - two eyes, two ears, ten fingers, ten toes, all standard issue from top to bottom. But in one crucial characteristic she is radically distinct from all other children. She is the product of one parent's entire genome, rather than being the product of the combination of randomly assorted genes from two parents.

When she becomes sufficiently self-aware she notices she is a nearly identical copy of her genetic mother, if she in fact lives with that person. Same hair color and consistency, same eye color, same skin tones, same overall features. The remarkable resemblance may be commented upon frequently by strangers. Or, if her parents purchased her genetic material from a service, she may encounter a photo of her genetic mother by accident in a magazine or on television.

For example, with commercialization of human cloning technology, celebrity genomes will be much sought after. Parents may want to have a child with the genetic attributes of their favorite professional athlete, music icon, or film star. Any celebrity on the downside of his career, who previously enjoyed a sufficiently high Q rating, could generate a substantial, never-ending income stream by selling access to his genome.

Many untoward scenarios will unfold. In one possible sequence years after a cloning event, the cloned child is sitting in a barbershop, waiting his turn, flipping through sports magazines. He turns a page which reveals an action close-up of a famous NFL quarterback. Unbeknownst to the child, this particular football player's genome is a popular cloning source. The shock of recognition is paralyzing, not electrifying.

The boy has the very possibly unwelcome experience of seeing a picture of himself as someone else. His sense of himself as a unique individual is immediately and profoundly disrupted.Depending on the quality of his upbringing and the degree of his experience of unconditional love, the child who is a clone may successfully move past this deep challenge to his sense of self. In contrasting circumstances, the ramifications of this discovery may affect his welfare and well-being throughout his lifetime. In either situation, many questions will arise that may ongoing impact his sense of being-in-the-world.

He may question his value as a human being. "Why am I a clone?" he may wonder. "Would I not have been good enough if my birth hadn't been planned in this way?" "Do my parents expect me to behave in a certain way?" "Do they expect me to turn out exactly like the person from whom I was cloned?" "Do I have any choice in the matter of who I become?".In different circumstances these existential questions may be relevant to all of us. They have immediate and critical impact on the day-to-day living of the cloned child.