Should human cloning be banned?

All through the last century, medical research made progress in many fields by finding out the way to explore DNA and the genes which cause many diseases. In 1996, a team of Scottish researchers managed the revolutionary cloning of a mammal: the famous ewe Dolly!

This extraordinary (but also polemical) finding not only meant a huge step for science, it also brought lots of questions and medical issues that are still discussed nowadays, for example, is cloning really beneficial for human beings? what is the risk of carrying out this activity? what are the boundaries?

Many opponents protested against it and tried to prevent cloning from being done even for medical issues. They presented several reasons such as religious issues or how unnatural cloning is and, as a result, they lobbied the governement to pass a private bill prohibiting the practice of such an amazing discovery.

According to me, cloning shouldn't be banned by the authorities as it is a very interesting way to cure a large number of patients suffering from diseases like cancer or genetic illnesses. In fact, researchers discovered a few years ago that the stem cells in the placenta collected after the delivery could be cloned and used in order to heal people who have leukaemia and, consequently save their lives. In addition, these stem cells can also be modified to produce any kind of bodycells (like the cells of the skin) and be grafted onto a person who has serious burns.

Of course, the government has to lay down a law to legalise this practice and to control it. If they don't, there is a risk of abuse by those who handle this incredible technique. However, I think it is a risk we should take because no one is guaranteed not to get a terrible disease that can be cured by cloning.