Couple wants clone child

[Wizeman]

Hello everyone!

I was taking my daily look at CNN.com to see what kind of aweful events have occured in the world today when I saw this article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/08/13...nna/index.html

Turns out that this couple would like to clone themselves as their children. Confused? I sure am! Now, I'm not one to say whether this is right or wrong, and that isn't what this post is about, but what do you do when your child is in their teenage years and they look exactly like you (assuming that there are no major defects that occur with this procedure, which there will almost undoubtably will be)?

Personally, I think this couple is just looking for attention, as they could easily use a sperm donor and a invitro fertilization of another parent just as easily, but for some reason they wish to clone themselves...maybe this is some narcisitic excuse to try and create a better them. The thing that bothered me the most about this entire article is when they are asked why they didn't just want to adopt a child from another country, and the wife says that they are already abused and that they come with baggage. What kind of a human being that hopes to be a parent says that about a child? Is it just me or are they treating their child as if it was a car they were hoping to purchase?

In my opinion, these people aren't fit to be parents because if they will go so far as to want a cloned baby, it is easy to see them being the type of parents that force certain activities down their children's throats. Ugh, it sickens me...

Regards,
Wizeman

[allenb1963]

My parents always told me that when I had kids, I would then be "paying for my own raising". This takes that old saying to a totally different level.

Thinking in a slightly different direction here....I remember the hell I put my parents through growing up. If I had to raise an exact copy of myself I would probably kill him. Would that be murder or suicide (since I would essentially be 'killing myself')?

[alittlebitnumb]

I have to agree with you Al, the last thing this world needs is another me.

There was a movie with Arnold S. featuring cloning (I forgot the name of the movie), and this guy was cloning himself. And when his clone fell on top of him, Arnold said to the man, "When I told you to screw yourself, I didn't think you would take it literally."

[Wizeman]

Something I just picked up from rereading the article is that they some how have twisted the fact that they are totally unable to conceive a child through any method into a sign from God that they should clone themselves. One has to ask, what kind of mental state are these people in?

I will take a bet that if this child develops normally in a physiological manner, that she will be neglected by her parents when her "novelty" runs out and will end up pulling a Columbine, or a similar indicident. Either that, or her parents will be insensitive enough to leave her in a car in 90 degree weather while they "run in" to a store. Man, people take having children so laxidasically these days that it is disgusting, how can you just treat a child with such disrespect and still call yourself a parent? Grr...

[evilempire]

she said she didnt want to adopt because of "baggage"....yeah like their cloned children are going to live a normal life

and would the parents be attracted to their kids as they grew up? =

[bludgeon]

I can sort-of see why they would want to clone a baby. . .I mean, I don't have kids yet, but when and if I do, I really would prefer them to be made by myself and the woman I'm with. They sound like they were pretty serious about having children, at one point in the article the guy made reference to her taking some medications that could've killed cancer, that sounds serious to me. . .I'd be more worried about the pysiological implications involved, that the doc is shrugging off, I've read some of the stuff on Dolly, and what I read was saying that it's aging prematurely in all respects.

[Terr]

I think the worst thing about a possible situation like this is where the parents expect the children to be just like they think they remember themselves as, and major dysfunction will set in. Even if the parents KNOW that genes aren't everything, there's a subconscious bias towads: "Don't Do X! Why, when *I* was your age..."

[Moose69]

Like it or not, this will be happening often in the future. In fact, I think it has already happened somewhere, it's just on the D-L. I recently saw you can clone your pet RIGHT NOW for less than $20Gs..... and you know people are already spending this chunk of cash to get liver transplants, etc. for their pet.... cloning it isn't too far a stretch from that I guess.

If human cloning doesn't happen in the US, it will happen elsewhere. We just have to be prepared to deal with it 'cause it's here!

[Troy11277]

I was watching a special abou this on TV the other night. These poor people have tried everything under the sun to have their own children. Artificial insemination just would not hold in this lady. She got artificially inseminated and layed absolutely motionless in bed for 2 weeks trying to get one of the 4 eggs they inserted to attach to the uterian wall. While I can understand the apprehension to adopt, I don't think cloning is right. When you adopt a child, you bring on a whole slew of problems when that child grows up. That's not to say that being the only cloned human in the world won't bring it's own problems. I guess I'm kinda torn about this. Cloning is too unnatural. But if you think about it, when artificial insemination started, how many people were throwing the bible up in the air saying it's unnatural and trying to ban it from ever happening. Artificial insemination proved itself as very helpful. Maybe cloning will too. We just have to get past the initial fear that we always have of change. My $0.02.

[Wizeman]

Troy11277:

I think you sort of missed my point. As I stated in my first post, I don't mean for this to be a discussion of right and wrong for the procedure of cloning. My main point was that I believe these people are totally unfit to be parents. They are so superficial as to reject the option of adopting a child because of emotional baggage that they may come with. Now, in order to have this cloned child, they have to use another woman to have the baby, so why not just use donated sperm ? Because they want a clone, they want to be special and this child (assuming he/she isn't going ot be 60 years old by the time he/she is 5) will be treated like a clone from the minute it ones its eyes. I don't believe for one minute that this couple won't suck up all sorts of publicity and book deals.

The point I'm making is that people like this make me sick. And the focus seems to be on their misfortune, rather than the scarring and ill treatment that we all know the child is going to receive.

You know there is something wrong when the parents say that because God hasn't let them have a child yet, it means God wants them to have a clone.

Regards,
Wizeman