Cloning and Stem Cell Research

"All birds, even those of the same species, are not alike, and it is the same with animals and with human beings. The reason Wakantanka does not make two birds, or animals, or human beings exactly alike is because each is placed here by Wakantanka to be an independent individuality and to rely upon itself." -- Shooter, late 19th century Teton Lakota Sioux.

When Shooter gave that teaching, he was talking about identical personalities--not people who appear to be identical physically, being that identical twins are born into the Indigenous American race as they are all others, and most other creatures belonging to a species or breed of animal, bird, fish, etc. appear identical to the human eye. However, even they have their own individual personalities, including those that have been cloned artifically in recent years. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that a cloned human being would have any more of an identical personality to his or her genetic host than natural clones known as identical twins do.

The ethical issue in relation to human cloning at this stage of the science of artifical cloning is that it should not be performed until geneticists can guarantee that a cloned human being will be born birth defect-free. Many animals that have been cloned so far are born with various types of birth defects and have endured a short-lived life span for their species. The first successful animal cloning to be widely publicized, Dolly the Sheep of Scotland, only lived four years.

The purpose of stem cell research is to attempt to improve the human condition medically. Human stem cells are generally removed from human fetuses. Those who oppose this type of research do so on the grounds that a human fetus must be destroyed in order to retrieve the stem cells. They are the same people who oppose abortion, which is discussed separately in this blog. However, stem cells are generally taken from a fetus that has been removed from the womb for other reasons anyway, so why let them go completely to waste if the female host of the fetus gives her consent?

Shamans manipulate the elements and environment all of the time. In most cases, there is nothing wrong with scientists doing so in the laboratory as well as long as it is done responsibly.