Importance of Management and Leadership for an Organization Essay

â€Å"Both management and leadership are needed to make teams and organisations successful. Trying to decide which is more important is like trying to decide whether the right or left wing is more important to an airplane’s flight. I’ll take both please!† (Clemmer, 2005, as cited in McLean, 2005, p.16). The aim of this essay is to answer the age old question as to whether management or leadership is more important to an organisation. Organisations, ranging from professional to social, have been in existence for centuries and the sole purpose of any of these organisations is to grow and succeed. Thus, it is without a doubt that any organisation would accomplish much without a source of management or leadership. Even though it is evident that both management and leadership are both fundamental to a successful organisation, a distinction between the two should be made; although they are both similar in definition and function they do differ in importance in and effe ct on organisations. It is contended that the implementation of good management has a greater benefit, and therefore has more importance, to an organisation than leadership because: leading is considered as an element of the management function; to manage an organisation is to sustain it whereas to lead is to direct it but if there is no management, there is no entity, which leaves nothing for leaders to lead; leadership is focused on the management of people but an organisation is made up of more than just people; and also the value of leadership depends deeply on the structure and size of the organisation in question. The term ‘good’ is often used to describe something of quality and skill; thus, good management simply means management that is of the highest quality and is effective in producing the greatest results for an organisation: â€Å"Excellent results stem from a combination of skilled management, strategic thought and a good dose of general common sense† (Honig, 1999, as c ited in Samson & Daft, 2009, p.14). Every workplace organisation, whether large or small, has a manager or person in charge; whether the appointed person is able to implement good management depends on their skill and capability. Management is the major task of any manager – it involves the use of authority to coordinate and supervise the activities of others and to ensure that tasks are being completed in an effective and efficient manner. More importantly, managers must implement the four key elements of management: planning, organising, leading and controlling in order to attain organisational goals (Bartol, Tein, Matthews & Sharma, 2008). Organisational goals, whether they are sales targets or technological developments, are put in place by managers to set out the purpose and scope of an entity. Without such goals an organisation would cease to exist as there would be no direction to grow or move forward. The process of setting goals and deciding how to achieve them is the planning aspect of the management f unction (Bartol et al., 2008). If effective management is employed, there is a greater likelihood of managers establishing better organisational goals and contingency plans to ensure the future and success of the organisation; because it will not only be goal directed but will also be prepared for unforeseen circumstances that may arise, enabling them to react effectively and efficiently (Samson & Daft, 2009). Good management also assists in the successful implementation of action plans to achieve such organisational goals by organising, allocating, arranging and regulating activities and resources within the workplace (Bartol et al., 2008). Leading and managing are terms often used interchangeably because leading is described as a core activity of any manager (McLean, 2005). Leadership involves managers using influence to motivate employees to engage in plans that work towards achieving organisational goals (Bartol et al., 2008; Samson & Daft, 2009). This suggests that leadership is intertwined within the task of management. So if good management practices are in place in an organisation, leadership is expected to follow in existence. However, the mistake should not be made to describe leadership and management as the same thing – â€Å"leadership is an element of management but is not the same thing† (Lyson cited in Robinson, 1999, p.20). To say that leading and managing is the same would be to ultimately say planning and managing is the same thing; nevertheless, planning is only a function of management, as is leading. Therefore, if an organisation were given a choice between employing either a good manager or a good leader, the good manager would be the safer bet because it would be expected that a good manager encompasses good leadership. Furthermore, the importance of and need for management in a workplace is supported by the idea that organisations are established to succeed and innovate and such is not possib le without the planning and setting of organisational goals and the attainment of these goals by organising, leading and controlling. Once good management is in practice, the four key functions, including leadership, are sure to be carried out effectively and efficiently. The profitability of an organisation is not a result of good management on its own; however, management is a major contributing factor. Every organisation is goal directed, and as ascribed earlier, management is the attainment of organisational goals with the use of planning, organising, leading and controlling (Bartol et al., 2008). The organisational goals act as an entity’s reason for existence, it strives to achieve these goals in order to grow and accomplish. Therefore it can be concluded that the focus of any organisation is to grow and move forward rather than to remain stationary and unproductive and thus there is an assumption that the life of the entity will be on going. The survival of an organisation depends on the ability of the manager to sustain it by utilizing the effective skills of good management. The manager is responsible for making informed decisions about the welfare of the organisation along with the collective resources owned. These decisions aim to not only achieve goals but to sustain and up hold the organisation to ensure its survival in today’s dynamic environment. Thus there is emphasis on an organisation to have good management in order for the entity to survive, which also acts to highlight the importance of effective management. On the other hand, leadership is implemented as the principle dynamic force to guide and motivate subordinates to attain organisational objectives (Burns, 1978, as cited in Shamas & Ofori, 2008) and ultimately bring change to an organisation as more goals are satisfied. If effective leadership is exercised within an organisation, innovation, change and transformation are easily attainable (Bartol et al., 2008). Alternatively, Slap (2010) asserts that although leadership profits and adds value to an organisation by way of innovation, it is not the purpose of introducing leadership. Rather, leadership is used as a tool to share and express important values and experiences to employees in an attempt to bring about an improved change in the workplace environment and in the attitudes held by employees. Leadership in this sense allows leaders to be more easily respected upon employees because they feel more connected with the leader, which also gives the leader greater influence to motivate and encourage hard work. Nevertheless, whichever way leadership is regarded the end result remains the same: innovation of an organisation by way of providing direction to accomplish objectives (Bass, 1990, as cited in Shamas & Ofori, 2008). â€Å"A leader innovates; a manager maintains† (Hollingsworth, as cited in Robinson, 1999, p.20); without effective management to keep the organisation alive it is likely to fail, and consequently leaders will be left taskless – there will be no goals left to achieve, no employees left to motivate and ultimately no organisation left to innovate. This strongly recognises the importance of good management and the added advantage it brings to an organisation; without good management, good leadership will be ineffective and futile. On the contrary, leadership is often considered as a much more pleasant concept in comparison to that of management: â€Å"leaders are seen as charismatic and often are admired and held in high esteem, managers frequently are thought of as the organization’s taskmasters with a whip in one hand and a bullhorn for screaming out orders in the other hand† (Kotterman, 2006, p. 13). Zaleznik (1977) and Burns (1978), as cited in Nienaber ( 2010), portray management as â€Å"mundane, uninspiring and tactical by nature† and in addition, asserting that management alone cannot guarantee the success of an organisation. Consequently, it has been argued that leadership should be favoured at the expense of management in a successful organisation (Spurgeon & Cragg, 2007, as cited in Nienaber, 2010). One of the most important aspects of leadership is the leaders’ followers (Bennis, 1989, as cited in Shamas & Ofori, 2008). Iscoe (2005, as cited in McLean, 2005) argues that people would rather follow a leader than a manger, if given the option; this is not surprising as leaders tend to focus more on the people rather than any other aspect of the organisation because in order for a leader to effectively influence and lead others they must work to gain the trust and respect of their followers. Thus, there are various positive reasons as to why leaders are commended over managers among the people, some of which are highlighted in Maccoby (2000), as cited in Shamas & Ofori (2008)., p.63: â€Å"hope of success, trust in the leader, excitement about a project or mission, or the opportunity to stretch on eself to the limit†. Unlike management, leadership is not an assigned role or title placed on someone. The task of managing a corporation is specific to the teams of managers who are formally appointed the position whereas leaders can stem from any sector of an organisation. Therefore, managers are associated with formal authority (McLean, 2005) which means people secondary to them in the organisational hierarchy may view managers as intimidating and unapproachable which further emphasises why leaders are more favourable in an organisation. Yet in reality, success isn’t easily achievable and so in order to attain it, compromise must occur. An organisation cannot survive on leadership alone, because although a leader may possess few managerial qualities, they are unable to satisfy all the tasks of a manager. Nevertheless, as every workplace organisation involves employees, it is evident that leadership is a fundamental aspect of any entity because leaders are responsible for managing the people. However, organisations are about more than just the workers, which illustrates the prevailing importance of managers to control all the remaining aspects of an organisation such as goals, plans, assets and resources. As previously mentioned, every organisation involves employees. The McDonalds restaurant is the largest fast food chain in the world, operating over 30,000 franchises in over 100 countries worldwide. It was revealed in the 2010 McDonalds annual report that the organisation employs over 1.7 million workers from all age groups across their stores. In enormous corporations such as McDonalds, with such a vast number of employees, it is expected that both leaders and managers are equally essential in running the organisation because there is an equally enormous number of duties to be satisfied. However, in contrast, a small, family-owned, local milk bar may only have, at most, three employees. Clearly leadership is not as important in an organisation of three people in comparison to that of one with over one million people, simply because such a minute organisation does not require such a deep extent of leadership. However, it is not to say that the manager of the milk bar should not possess leadership qualities because even though there are very few employees, motivation and communication of direction must still take place (Nienaber, 2010) in order for the business to thrive. Although both management and leadership are both important functions of an organisation, a number of moderating factors determine the effectiveness and importance of leadership including size of the organisation (Fiedler, 1967; Gardner et al., 2005, as cited in Shamas and Ofori, 2008) whereas, regardless of size or type, every organisation needs a person in charge. In other words, management is important and is needed in every organisation but the extent to which leadership is needed varies among different organisations. Conclusively, although leadership and management are functions that must be applied to any successful organisation, effective management has prevailing importance. Theoretically, management is defined as the attainment of organisational goals through planning, organising, leading and controlling (Bartol et al., 2008). Thus it is clear that leadership is encompassed in the task of management so if a manager can perform their task effectively, leadership is likely to follow. However the reverse is not true, as to lead is to influence, direct and motivate others to achieve goals, not to control so management is not a facet of leadership. Management is often considered as a control mechanism in an organisation which some tend to find intimidating and off putting which is why leadership is usually the preferred, softer option (Kotterman, 2006). However, the focus of leaders is often on the people but people are obviously just one aspect of an organisation which is why managers are more important because there are so many other features of an organisation to be controlled. By influencing people to complete tasks effectively and efficiently, leaders bring about change and innovation in an organisation. However, without management acting to sustain organisations in today’s turbulent environment, there is simply no place left for a leader (Hollingsworth, as cited in Robinson, 1999). Finally, the essentiality of leadership in an organisation depends greatly on the size and type of a corporation whereas management is equally important in any and all organisations. These points clearly demonstrate that good management is more important to a successfully running organisation than good leadership. All in all, if an organisation were given an ultimatum between a good manager and a good leader, the good manager is likely to prevail.

First Few Weeks in High School Essay

High school is an enjoyable, but challenging part of life. From the first day of school to the 5th week of school I was confused, excited, and lost. My challenges are getting A’s in all of my classes and being one of the top students in my classes. My successful moments have been getting A’s on my History, English, Geometry, and Biology tests. My goal in AVID is to find which college would best suit me. Also, I would like to increase my public speaking skills. The transition from middle school to high school is a giant leap regarding the amount of work required and the quantity of responsibilities. First of all, from the first Day of high school to the 5th week, I was confused, excited, and lost. For example, I was excited because I wanted to meet new people and extend my leadership skills. In addition, I was confused because it was a whole different schedule and there was a variety of new topics that I had never heard about. Furthermore, I was lost because the school was enormous and there were a lot of new things to deal with. To conclude, during the first five weeks I still felt like it was summer so I didn’t have my act together which made a couple of things tough on me. Secondly, I have set up a couple of challenges and had a few successful moments. One of my challenges is getting A’s in all of my classes. Another challenge I havpre is being one of the top students in my classes. My successful moments have been getting A’s on my History, English, Geometry, and Biology tests. In conclusion I have challenged myself by setting up a few challenges that I must accomplish and I have had a couple successful moments so far in high school. My goal in AVID is to find which college would best suit me. Also, I would like to increase my public speaking skills. Even though I am in my first  year of high school planning ahead for my future is good because that way I can prepare for what is coming and I won’t have to do anything at the last minute. AVID also helps increase people public speaking skills which is a crucial aspect required for a lot of things that may occur in the future. Another thing AVID provides is community service, which gets you involved with the community. To finish off with, AVID is a great and important program if you want to succeed in high school and in the rest of your life. In conclusion, the transition from middle school to high school is a giant leap regarding the amount of work required and the quantity of responsibilities. From the first day of school to the 5th week of school I was confused, excited, and lost. My challenges are getting A’s in all of my classes and being one of the top students in my classes. My successful moments have been getting A’s on my History, English, Geometry, and Biology tests. My goal in AVID is to find which college would best suit me. Also, I would like to increase my public speaking skills. High school may seem hard with all the work, but It can be easy if you really try and put your mind to it.

Human Multi-Tasking

Human multitasking is the best performance by an individual of appearing to handle more than one task at the same time. The term is derived from computer multitasking. An example of multitasking is taking phone calls while typing an email. Some believe that multitasking can result in time wasted due to human context switching and apparently causing more errors due to insufficient attention. Etymology The term â€Å"multitasking† originated in the computer engineering industry. [1] It refers to the ability of a microprocessor to apparently process several tasks simultaneously. 2] Computer multitasking in single core microprocessors actually involves time-sharing the processor; only one task can actually be active at a time, but tasks are rotated through many times a second. With multi-core computers, each core can perform a separate task simultaneously. The first published use of the word â€Å"multitask† appeared in an IBM paper describing the capabilities of the IBM Sy stem/360 in 1965. [3] [edit]Research on human multitasking Since the 1990s, experimental psychologists have started experiments on the nature and limits of human multitasking. It has been shown multitasking is not as workable as concentrated times.In general, these studies have disclosed that people show severe interference when even very simple tasks are performed at the same time, if both tasks require selecting and producing action (e. g. , (Gladstones, Regan & Lee 1989) (Pashler 1994)). Many researchers believe that action planning represents a â€Å"bottleneck†, which the human brain can only perform one task at a time. [4] Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell[5] has gone so far as to describe multitasking as a â€Å"mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously as effectively as one. Others have researched multitasking in specific domains, such as learning. Mayer and Moreno[6] have studied the phenomenon of cognitive load in mu ltimedia learning extensively and have concluded that it is difficult, and possibly impossible to learn new information while engaging in multitasking. Junco and Cotten examined how multitasking affects academic success and found that students who engaged in more multitasking reported more problems with their academic work. 7] A more recent study on the effects of multitasking on academic performance found that using Facebook and text messaging while studying were negatively related to student grades, while online searching and emailing were not [8]. [edit]The brain's role in multitasking Because the brain cannot fully focus when multitasking, people take longer to complete tasks and are predisposed to error. When people attempt to complete many tasks at one time, â€Å"or [alternate] rapidly between them, errors go way up and it takes far longer—often double the time or more—to get the jobs done than if they were done sequentially,† states Meyer. 9] This is lar gely because â€Å"the brain is compelled to restart and refocus†. [10] A study by Meyer and David Kieras found that in the interim between each exchange, the brain makes no progress whatsoever. Therefore, multitasking people not only perform each task less suitably, but lose time in the process. When presented with much information, the brain is forced to pause and refocus continuously as one switches between tasks. [10] Realistically, this is â€Å"a rapid toggling among tasks rather than simultaneous processing. According to a study done by Jordan Grafman, chief of the cognitive neuroscience section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, â€Å"the most anterior part [of the brain] allows [a person] to leave something when it’s incomplete and return to the same place and continue from there,† while Broadman’s Area 10, a part of the brain’s frontal lobes, is important for establishing and attaining long term goals. [9] Fo cusing on multiple dissimilar tasks at once forces the brain to process all activity in its anterior. Though the brain is complex and can perform a myriad of tasks, it cannot multitask well.Another study by Rene Marois, a psychologist of Vanderbilt University, discovered that the brain exhibits a â€Å"response selection bottleneck† when asked to perform several tasks at once. The brain must then decide which activity is most important, thereby taking more time. Psychologist David Meyer of the University of Michigan claims that, instead of a â€Å"bottleneck,† the brain experiences â€Å"adaptive executive control† which places priorities on each activity. These viewpoints differ in that, while bottlenecking attempts to force many thoughts through the brain at once, adaptive executive control prioritizes tasks to maintain resemblance of rder. The brain better understands this order and, as psychologists such as Dr. Meyer believe, can therefore be trained to mult itask. [11] Because the brain is an expanse of yet uncharted territory, psychologists do not understand how the brain truly processes input and reacts to overstimulation. Some research suggests that the human brain can be trained to multitask. A study published in Child Development by Monica Luciana, associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, discovered that the brain’s capability of categorizing competing information continues to develop until ages sixteen and seventeen.Perhaps if people are trained to multitask at an early age, they will become efficient at multitasking. A study by Vanderbilt University found that multitasking is largely limited by â€Å"the speed with which our prefrontal cortex processes information. † Paul E. Dux, co-author of the study, believes that this process can become faster through proper training. The research team found that with training, the brain can think and perform certain tasks more quickly, effectively allo wing time for another task. The study trained seven people to perform two simple tasks, either separately or together, and conducted brain scans of the participants.The individuals multitasked poorly at first but, with training, were able to adeptly perform the tasks simultaneously. Brain scans of the participants indicate that the prefrontal cortex quickened its ability to process the information, enabling the individuals to multitask more efficiently. However, the study also suggests that the brain is incapable of performing multiple tasks at one time, even after extensive training. [12] This study further indicates that, while the brain can become adept at processing and responding to certain information, it cannot truly multitask.People have a limited ability to retain information, which worsens when the amount of information increases. For this reason people alter information to make it more memorable, such as separating a ten-digit phone number into three smaller groups or div iding the alphabet into sets of three to five letters. George Miller, former psychologist at Harvard University, believes the limits to the human brain’s capacity centers around â€Å"the number seven, plus or minus two. † An illustrative example of this is a test in which a person must repeat numbers read aloud.While two or three numbers are easily repeated, shown in the beginning straight line, fifteen numbers becomes more difficult, as the line curves. The person would, on average, repeat seven correctly. [13] Brains are only capable of storing a limited amount of information in their short term memories. This ineffectiveness of the human brain for multitasking has been demonstrated in different studies. [14][15][16] Laboratory based studies of multi-tasking indicate that one motivation for switching between tasks is to increase the time spent on the task that produces the most reward (Payne, Duggan & Neth, 2007).This reward could be progress towards an overall task goal or it could simply be the opportunity to pursue a more interesting or fun activity. Payne, Duggan and Neth (2007) found that decisions to switch task reflected either the reward provided by the current task or the availability of a suitable opportunity to switch (i. e. the completion of a subgoal). A French fMRI study published in 2010 indicated preliminary support for the hypothesis that the brain can pursue at most two goals simultaneously, one for each frontal lobe (which has a goal-oriented area). [17] [edit]Continuous partial attentionMain article: Continuous partial attention Author Steven Berlin Johnson describes one kind of multitasking: â€Å"It usually involves skimming the surface of the incoming data, picking out the relevant details, and moving on to the next stream. You’re paying attention, but only partially. That lets you cast a wider net, but it also runs the risk of keeping you from really studying the fish. â€Å"[18] Multimedia pioneer Linda Stone coined the phrase â€Å"continuous partial attention† for this kind of processing. [19] Continuous partial attention is multitasking where things do not get studied in depth.Rapidly increasing technology fosters multitasking because it promotes multiple sources of input at a given time. Instead of exchanging old equipment like TV, print, and music, for new equipment such as computers, the Internet, and video games children and teens combine forms of media and continually increase sources of input. [20] According to studies by the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 1999 only 16 percent of time spent using media such as internet, television, video games, telephones, text-messaging, or e-mail was combined.In 2005, 26 percent of the time this media was used together. [11] This increase in media usage decreases the amount of attention paid to each device. Today 82 percent of youth use the Internet by the seventh grade, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. A 2005 surv ey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that, while their usage of media continued at a constant 6. 5 hours per day, Americans ages 8 to 18 were crowding roughly 8. 5 hours’ worth of media into their days due to multitasking.The survey showed that one quarter to one third of the participants have more than one input â€Å"most of the time† while watching television, listening to music, or reading. [9] The 2007 Harvard Business Review featured Linda Stone’s idea of â€Å"continuous partial attention,† or, â€Å"constantly scanning for opportunities and staying on top of contacts, events, and activities in an effort to miss nothing†. [11] As technology provides more distractions, attention is spread among tasks more thinly. A prevalent example of this inattention to detail due to multitasking is apparent when people talk on cell phones while driving.Talking and driving are mutually exclusive because focusing on both the conversation and the road use s the same part of the brain. [citation needed] As a result, people generally become more concerned with their phone conversations and do not concentrate on their immediate surroundings. A 2006 study published in the Human Factors journal showed that drivers talking on cell phones were more involved in rear-end collisions and sped up slower than drivers intoxicated over the . 08% legal limit. [citation needed] When talking, people must withdraw their attention from the road in order to formulate responses.Because the brain cannot focus on two sources of input at one time, driving and listening or talking, constantly changing input provided by cell phones distracts the brain and increases the likelihood of accidents. [citation needed] [edit]Popular commentary on practical multitasking Multitasking has been criticized as a hindrance to completing tasks or feeling happiness. Barry Schwartz has noted that, given the media-rich landscape of the Internet era, it is tempting to get into a habit of dwelling in a constant sea of information with too many choices, which has been noted to have a negative effect on human happiness. 21] The idea that women are better multitaskers than men has been popular in the media. Recently, a study by British psychologist Professor Keith Laws at the University of Hertfordshire was widely reported in the press to have provided the first evidence of female multitasking superiority. [22] A formal research paper has yet to be published. In another study,[23] females were found to perform better at coordinating a primary test with a secondary test (p=0. 007), supporting this notion that females are better at multi-tasking.However, the authors concluded their tests may not reflect real life multi-tasking and that further research was required. Observers of youth in modern society often comment upon the apparently advanced multitasking capabilities of the youngest generations of humans (Generation Y and Generation Z). While it is true that c ontemporary researchers find that youths in today's world exhibit high levels of multitasking, most experts believe that members of the Net Generation are not any better at multitasking than members of older generations. 24] However, recent studies by Bardhi, Rohm, and Sultan argue that Generation Y is becoming better at media multitasking. This is evidenced by the fact that they are gaining control over deciding which messages they pay attention to or not. [25] Furthermore, while there is a great deal of evidence showing the negative effects of multitasking on cognitive tasks [26] [27] [28] [29] [30], there is no evidence showing that multitasking has a positive or neutral effect on these tasks. **Source: WIKIPEDIA (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Human_multitasking)

Estimating the Damping in a Single Degree of Freedom System Lab Report - 1

Estimating the Damping in a Single Degree of Freedom System - Lab Report Example There are a number of sources for damping and in this experiment; we are required to determine their overall effect. The excitation of the system will be provided by a shaker driving the opposite end of the beam from the attached weight. Two different methods will be used to estimate the damping: half-power bandwidth measurement in the frequency domain and a logarithmic decrement in the time-domain. a) Set up the system to use an accelerometer to measure the vibration of the beam near the attached weight while applying a computer-generated forcing signal via the shaker attached to the opposite end of the beam. c) Observe the resonant peak corresponding to mass-on-a-spring type motion, and compare it to what you would expect based on a simple calculation using the mass of the attached weight and the static stiï ¬â‚¬ness of the beam. When a mechanical system is displaced from its position at equilibrium and then released, the restoring force returns it to equilibrium position. This kind of movement is referred to as free vibration. Free vibration results arise from the initial impact energy that keeps changing consistently from potential energy to kinetic energy forms. In a state of free vibration, the mechanical system is said to be vibrating at its natural frequency. However, due to some various causes, dissipation of the mechanical energy occurs during vibration and this effect is referred to as damping. In theory, an un-damped freely vibrating system continues to vibrate after it has started. In this experiment, we shall investigate the effect of damping and the level of damping in the mechanical system. Vibration can basically be classified in a number of ways including: b. Un-damped and damped vibration: In un-damped vibrations, no energy is lost or dissipated as a result of friction during the oscillatory motion. If any energy is lost, the

Corporations and the Equal Protections Caluse Research Paper

Corporations and the Equal Protections Caluse - Research Paper Example In this paper, I will argue that the â€Å"equal protections† clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was incorrectly applied to corporations, and doing so has had disastrous implications. It is absolutely clear that the equal protection clause was meant to protect individuals, not corporations, from unequal treatment by states. Corporations and equal protection clause Many people are shocked when they first learn that corporations are considered legal persons, entitled to the same rights as the average citizen. Starting with Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., the power of corporations has increased exponentially. Subsequent to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co. in 1886, corporations were consistently granted greater power by the Supreme Court through the equal protection clause. â€Å"Equal protection as a legal concept is the idea that individuals should be treated in the same manner as other individuals in similar circumstances†(Equal pr otection, n. d). However, the courts adopted different standards while dealing with equal protection clauses with respect to individuals and corporations, which include strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and the rational basis test etc. This is purely because of the rise of corporate power. Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. ... The above right was already given to the individuals and Southern Pacific Railroad Company argued that they also have the same right just like the individuals and they refused to pay taxes under the new legislature. Southern Pacific Railroad Company sought protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. One of the points made and discussed at length in the brief of counsel for defendants in error was that "corporations are persons within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States." Before argument, MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE said: "The Court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution which forbids a state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws applies to these corporations. We are all of opinion that it does "(SANTA CLARA COUNTY V. SOUTHERN PACIFIC R. CO., 118 U. S. 394 (1886), 2011). In other words, court upheld the arguments of Southern Pac ific Railroad Company and declared its verdict in favor of the company. Organizations or corporations are entities which might be created for the purpose of doing business making profits. They are doing so at the expense of the interests of the people or the individuals. In other words, corporations are exploiting the community resources for making profits and it is their duty to pay tax to the government for such exploitation of natural resources. Governments have the moral and legal responsibility of working for the interests of the individuals. Individuals have limited capacity to exploit the natural resources compared to the abilities of corporation.

Public Administration 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Administration 2 - Essay Example With any career, ethics will always play a crucial role. People come across many ethical circumstances and it trickles down to the individual to decide on how to act. In Tenet’s situation, it was not any different. In his political profession, Tenet faced numerous ethical predicaments. A number of these ethical impasses comprise him acting as a mediator rendering his work politically intricate. Tenet was unable to directly communicate and disagree with the associates within the President Bush’s administration. Tenet would even back the President knowing very well that the President was wrong. This placed George in a cross road between being loyal to the President and executing his duties (Boyle, 2008). Tenet had continually viewed CIA’s role as an â€Å"authentic broker that eluded direct participation in formulation of foreign policy†. In 1998, Tenet acted as a â€Å"mediator† for Binyamin Netanyahu (Israel’s Prime Minister) and Yasser Arafat in a peace dialogue hosted by the Head of state Clinton. This action contradicted Tenet’s statement that the Central Intelligence Agency was the single entity, which both parties could entrust. The CIA acting as a mediator instead of a spymaster, rendered those at the inside somewhat uncomfortable (Stillman, 2000). When the actions of 9/11 transpired, Tenet was aware it was al-Qaeda’s work and he held the full backing from President Clinton to do whatsoever he deemed necessary to have the job completed. The problem arose when Chaney (Vice President) declared at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) conference, that Saddam Hussein possessed the armaments of annihilation. George did not approve that assessment; indeed, he indicated that the speech had gone fittingly beyond what CIA analysis could hold. Since George had not engaged in that discussion with Chaney (Vice President) concerning his speech, it ignited the

Academic Journals Exercise of Social Goegraphy Essay

Academic Journals Exercise of Social Goegraphy - Essay Example e articles published during the past few years in the selected journal will be reviewed and methodological approaches of the journal will be discussed in the paper. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies is the journal that will be analyzed and scrutinized in this paper. (ACME, 2009) In specific, social, spatial, and political analyses are welcomed and encouraged in the abovementioned journal; however, a significant importance has been given to the critical and radical approaches for such analyses. As the name suggests, different geographies have been analyzed in this journal critically with its relation with social sciences. Some of the social-scientific aspects, such as feminist, Marxist, anarchist, post-structuralism, and a number of other perspectives have been used by the authors to provide an understanding of such socialist aspects in terms of geography. It is believed that the abovementioned perspectives play a crucial role in the development of geographies, and thus, different political structures, such as nationalist, liberalism, fascism, etc. have been investigated and challenged in a critical and radical manner. One of the major reasons of choosing this journal is its international perspective and scope that allows contribution from academic, as well as, non-academic providers and contributors. Besides this, articles have been published in English, Spanish, German, Italian, and French in the journal that provides an overview of its diversity. Journal includes review essays, as well as, a variety of empirical based research articles that have critically analyzed socialist issues with respect to geography by debates, literature reviews, and poetry as well. Until now, ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies has published fifteen volumes since its first volume in the year 2002. Since its first volume, different topics, such as critical cartographies, sexuality and gender, mediated places, class struggles and geography,

Monopolistic Competition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Monopolistic Competition - Essay Example Figure 1 is illustrative for differentiating market structure and the chapters refer to the chapters in Mankiw (2007). Figure 1. Gregory Mankiw on four types of market structure Source: Mankiw (2007, p. 341) Mankiw (2007, p. 341) elaborated that there is no â€Å"magic number† that would allow us to determine what is â€Å"few† or â€Å"many† firms as reality is never as precise as theory. Samuelson and Nordhaus (2001, p. 168) had viewed monopolistic competition as â€Å"imperfect competition†. Further, they described the type of competition to be â€Å"very common† (Samuelson and Nordhaus 2001, p. 187). Earlier, Hunt (2000, p. 41) reported that the theory of monopolistic competition was developed by Edward Chamberlin in 1933 in which the latter complained that his theory was wrongly lumped with Joan Robinson’s theory of imperfect competition. In particular, Hunt (2000, p. ... In contrast, through product differentiation, a firm in a monopolistic competition has a portion of the market in which he has a monopoly. For instance, the pants industry has Levis and Wrangler, for example, and each brand has a set of customers loyal to the brand. For their respective loyal customers, each firm is a monopoly facing a specific demand curve. Varian (2005, p. 461) pointed out in a monopolistic competition, â€Å"each firm faces a downward-sloping demand curve for its product.† This is illustrated in Figure 2. Figure 2. Monopolistic Competition in the Short Run Source: Mankiw 2007, p. 369 A diagram similar to Figure 2 of the earlier page is in Depken (2006, p. 199) as well as in Taylor (2007, p. 293). In Figure 2 of the earlier page, it is clear that a monopolistic competitive firm maximizes profit where its marginal revenue equals marginal cost (Mankiw 2007, p. 369). However, as shown in Figure 2, this can lead to a loss or profit, depending on the costs curves confronting the firm (Mankiw 2007, p. 369). The left panel of Figure 2 in the immediately preceding page indicates a profit for the monopolistic competitive firm while the one on the right panel of Figure 2 indicates a loss. Meanwhile, it must be pointed out that a much earlier book, Eckert and Leftwich (1988, p. 212) had described a much more elastic demand curve for a monopolistic competition or a demand curve that is close to a horizontal straight line to reflect that demand can either significantly drop or increase with prices changes in a monopolistic competition. In other words, this means that the demand curve facing the competitively monopolistic firm in the short run is highly elastic. Subject to

The Image Narrative Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Image Narrative - Research Paper Example â€Å"Manga artist Mizuki Shigeru (b. 1922), creator of the famous supernatural series GeGeGe no Kitaro, is one individual who could not be blamed for feeling like a victim.†1 In fact, Shigeru lost his left arm in the war but sees himself, it seems, reflected through his art in the way that the war was torturous and terrible. The key players in the text include Japanese officials, as well as one character we see throughout the panels. They are both parodied, and the character guiding one through the panels who is the main character acts as though he knows nothing about WWII. The cartoon character which is parodied in the panel definitely adds to the overall tone of the piece, giving War and Japan a slightly humorous bent, although little about War and Japan is really humorous. The topic of the cartoon is carnage, massacre, disaster, and war—at their worst. The suffering of the Japanese people is aptly portrayed in this graphic cartoon, bringing the reader to a very dark place. In this sense, it is understood why the cartoon is offensive to some people, both to the Japanese and those who are not Japanese. This cartoon disturbs the reader, but with an overall intent to educate—not just to shock. That is the redeeming value of this cartoon, is that it seeks to educate its readers about the horrors of war as it relates to Japanese history, pre- and post-World War II. This cartoon exemplifies the suffering of the Japanese in different eras, that is supposed to enlighten the reader as to why the Japanese have a certain mindset regarding the war and its effects. III. Second Set of Questions (150 words) Images echo each other in this piece in the sense that violence mirrors itself continually through the piece, not only talking about the Nanking Massacre—but contrasting that with the atomic bomb that dropped on Hiroshima and the carnage that resulted in that. Not only that but, we see the overlap and evolution of soldiers having been sent of f to the South Pacific and Burma from Japan to fight in WWII, an often unseen added element about the War that Shigeru sheds light upon. The images are fixed in terms of being frozen in time, but there is definitely a sense of movement in the images, giving oneself an idea that it is like watching a little movie of World War II from a Japanese viewpoint. The images are more ambiguous when it comes to larger overviews, like the Nanking Massacre and one jungle scenes seen later in the panel. IV. Third Set of Questions (600 words) Sensory stimulation is paramount to War and Japan. The rhythm and pacing is switched up. At first, Shigeru shows us graphic images, and then gives our eyes a rest between graphic images to process what we have just seen, and then the cartoon character narrator tries to explain what is going on in the mind of ordinary Japanese people, bringing the reader back to a sense of normalcy—right before the next image is proffered on-screen. The larger pattern o f movement overall is a wax and wane, bringing us in peaks and valleys to a crescendo of realizing what it means to be a true Japanese—to â€Å"stand tall.† In this way, the progression from panel to panel is very cyclical, nonlinear, and evocative of an emotional rollercoaster in which Shigeru engages us. The turning point of the entire â€Å"cartoon,† if it can be called that—since one usually thinks of cartoons as more humorous than grotesque—is the massacre that occurs after the Manchu people are worked like slaves

What kind of thinker are you Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What kind of thinker are you - Essay Example Critical thinkers usually tend to be self-disciplined, self-directed, self-monitoring and self-corrective; they raise crucial questions about an issue then go ahead to formulate questions clearly and precisely to come up with the most effective way of reasoning (Hills, 2011). There are six stages in critical thinking that include; the unreflective thinker who is not aware of the significant flaws in his way of thinking, the confronted thinker who are aware of problems in their way of reasoning. The third stage is that of the novice thinker, who is aware of the problems in his thought process and tries to improve his thinking although this type of thinker is not consistent, proactive thinker is the fourth phase where the thinker acknowledges there is need to have a regular and consistent training in order to improve their thinking process. The fifth phase if that of the advanced thinker where the individuals begin to advance in their thinking process due to the amount of practise they have put in place and the final phase is the master thinker where an individual becomes skilful and insightful, he is analytical and reflective in his thinking process. Another area of critical thinking that was key in learning was the procedure of becoming a critical thinker, the various way that an individual can develop his thinking process through the six phases of critical thinking to become a master thinker. The importance of the critical thinking can also not be underrated in the learning process as it explains how and where the process of critical thinking is useful. My critical thinking has changed since starting the study of critical thinking in that I did not initially acknowledge my thinking process was flawed but after learning about the process of critical thinking, I now realise the flaws in my thinking. My stage of development has been that of an unreflective thinker, this is informed by the

Aniamal behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Aniamal behavior - Essay Example Essential around these elements are: Relative plenitudes of predators and prey, Relative sizes of predators and prey, Predator sex, Prey physical/behavioral qualities (e.g., secretive shade, escape systems), Energetic nature of prey, Predator condition or gut completion, Predator experience and Habitat heterogeneity. A mixture of exploration proposes that a proportion of 1 wolf: 200 caribou is steady. Over this, caribou populaces decrease. This degree for moose is assessed to be 1 wolf: 20 moose. More prey more predators. Keep up predator: prey proportion and help settle prey populaces. In this way, if deer populaces increment, do coyote and catamount populaces likewise build? If not, then the proportion progressions and predation effects ought to lessen. Elective prey implies that predators may not demonstrate a numerical reaction. Examples Coyotes can live on little warm blooded animals, so regardless of the possibility that deer populaces decrease, coyotes can stay copious and proceed to intensely pillage grovels. Predators generally have easier r and are longer existed than prey. Predators cant expand as quickly as prey, so proportion of predator: prey diminishes when increments prey. Opposite is genuine when prey populaces diminish. Case Cougars have more level conceptive rates than deer. Deer populaces can expand more rapidly than cougar numbers, consequently consistently bringing down the predator: prey proportion until something stops the expansion in deer numbers. Cougars, on normal, live more than deer. On the off chance that deer populaces drop, due to climate or some other transitory conditions, then the proportion of predator: prey will build until a portion of the cougars likewise kick the bucket. One method helpless prey can use to decrease predation rates is to move prey in time in space so that the accessible predators are unable to consume much of it. This is the methodology of caribou that

Positive psychology Essay Example for Free

Positive psychology Essay As a child we are told the future is our oasis But is this really the truth when we look at the basics? When I was young and asked what I wanted to be I of course replied â€Å"just like daddy† Now I wasn’t referring to his business success I was only concerned about the love he expressed So when we are told that the future couldn’t be brighter Why do people only think about becoming an astronaut or fire fighter? What is often forgotten is the truth of the matter There is much more to life, this is just a part of the batter Making the cake is a process that is extensive. What we need to remember is that it doesn’t need to be expensive Why does one’s life have to be determined by their occupation? It has become a norm in society, almost a fixation In order to be happy one has to have a high paying job and big house Luxuries extend as a far as a Maserati or a cottage with a boathouse With this in mind, young students face great pressure and tension School has become an entity beyond comprehension It was in my understanding that we come here to learn But when I look around all I see is heads turned. Heads turned from the reality of the true meaning of life Kids only concerned with grades as if they are being forced with a knife This figurative dagger comes in the hands of universities What happened to opening the door for a girl or showing a little common courtesy? People approach university with a new hopeful attitude We can now receive self fulfillment and gratitude The reality of the situation is long, grueling hours spent with your head buried in a book No one reflects on themselves or even lifts their head to take a look. Many pass these four years with not an aspiration in mind Not even looking ahead, continuing to remain blind Then university is over, time for life to begin With endless possibility, one cannot help but grin Then it hits you, like a strike across the face Money is happiness therefore you join the rat race What is interesting about this race is that there is no winner The winner is still a rat; the only objective is to provide a better dinner What has been lost in the mix is the wisdom and prudence Any successful man would point out that our actions are rather foolish And by successful I am not referring to economic victory I am referring to the people who have shaped our history Not the Donald Trumps, Mark Zuckerberg’s or Warren Buffets These are simply the people enslaved as economic puppets I am referring to the Gandhi’s, Malcolm X’s and Martin Luther King’s The people who created change, the liberation they were able to bring I believe that with great people comes great change. This change is not as simple as a stock trade, it is long range Not only is it eternally priceless but it has a rippling effect One great person affects all around them, sometimes unknowingly or indirect When I think of inspiration I think of the president of Uruguay The poorest president in the world challenged what society sees as the way Donating 90% of his salary leaving just $1250 dollars per year to his name It makes one question why we only seek to make large sums of money or achieve great fame Don’t mistake my message for an attempt to say that we are all greedy I simply want you to be aware that life isn’t all that easy Money can solve your surface problems but this solution is temporary. Reflect on your goals and ambitions before you end up in a cemetery I feel that change is possible regardless of your situation It does not depend on your gender, race, religion or sexual orientation Change isn’t easy but we are all more than capable When life pushes you to the curb, you are hurt but unbreakable In a world that seams hopeless it is important to remember life goes on Make sure to look up, stay positive and never get withdrawn. We are all brothers and sisters part of something that is greater Be fearless and hopeful and live up to your nature We are often referred to as the careless generation who lack a work ethic But I would argue that statement is unjustified and rather pathetic We have the means to create change and it is already happening People like the Keilburger’s come across as rather baffling But when looked at in perspective they are simply two people with a dream A dream that arises a common theme. This theme is that we must love and be aware We must create a life for all that is just and fair In saying all this I am not trying to discourage I hope all your child hood dreams come to the surface There’s a world full of hope, possibility and prosperity And my wish to all is a fulfilling life of mental clarity Ultimately what it comes down to is the way we are taught as youth There is nothing more powerful then the honest truth When asked what we would like to be in our future Happiness should come to mind, the only acceptable answer.

Ethical Issues in Cloning

Ethical Issues in Cloning Thesis Statement: Although cloning has been successful to a certain extent, there have also been a high percentage of failures which has raised some ethical issues. Preface I was in a dilemma whether to choose teen pregnancy or cloning. When I did some research for these 2 topics, I realized cloning has been around for decades and I thought it was only quite recent. My misunderstanding led me to further research on the topic. However, I was also researching on teen pregnancy as it is quite common these days. There are cases of teen pregnancy in the newspapers. It is shocking to see cases with pregnant girls as young as nine-years old. There are human cloning and animal cloning. Some pets are also cloned. It is quite surprising that people would want to clone their pets as it is very costly. Human cloning has caused a debate. Certain religions such as Protestants, Catholics, Buddhism and Islam think that cloning a human is like being God. They do not think it is right. Also, there are many risks involved. On the contrary, there are some who thinks that it is peoples own decision. It is like your freedom rights. You can make the decision. After much deliberation, I decided cloning is much more interesting. I am sure not many people know a lot about cloning. Teen pregnancy is a common topic, one that you have heard many times. Therefore, ultimately, I chose the topic cloning. Introduction Cloning describes the processes used to create an exact genetic replica of another cell, tissue or organism. The copied material, which has the same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as a clone. There are three different types of cloning: Gene cloning, Reproductive cloning and Therapeutic cloning. Gene cloning creates copies of genes or segments of DNA. It can identify genetic abnormalities. Reproductive cloning creates copies of whole animals. Therapeutic cloning creates embryonic  stem cells. It is for medical use. Researchers hope to use these cells to grow healthy tissue to replace injured or diseased tissues in the human body. (National Human Genome Research Institute viewed 31 July 2010) The purpose of reproductive cloning is for research. It uses a method called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT). It can repopulate endangered species or make breeding of certain animals less difficult and can produce creatures with particular traits, such as genetically special animals. (Therapeutic cloning vs. reproductive cloning, viewed 31 August 2010) In 1996, scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland have successfully cloned a sheep, named Dolly. However, Dolly was produced only after 276 attempts. The success rate ranges from 0.1 percent to 3 percent, which means that for every 1000 tries, only 1 to 30 clones are made. (What are the risks of cloning, viewed 7 August 2010) Cloning has its disadvantages and advantages. Some advantages are solution to infertility; provide treatments for variety of diseases and genetic modification. Some disadvantages are the uncertainty of science technology, the great diseases and leading to extinction. There are also ethical issues such as unnatural acts, changing the diversity of society and risks of abuse and exploitations. Although cloning has been successful to a certain extent, there have also been a high percentage of failures which has raised some ethical issues. 1. Advantages of cloning 1.0 Provide organs for transplantation If it is possible to clone the essential organs or body parts of the human body, then they may be able to operate as support systems. The cloned body parts can act as human beings lifesaver. For example, when a kidney or any other organ fail to act properly, it may be possible to use the newly cloned organ and take out the spoiled organ. Cloning can make new organs required for organ transplants. It offers hope to people needing organ transplants since people requiring them often have to wait for years for an appropriate donor. There are many cases whereby patients die waiting because of the numerous people requiring organs. (Human cloning viewed 31 July 2010) Also, patients with an implanted organ must take loads of medicine that can cause side effects everyday as long as they live. This is to guarantee that their body does not reject the implanted organ. These side effects can decrease their life quality. Anyone can clone his or her own organs. The cloned organ would be produced from the body cell of the person who needs the transplant. This will reduce the high risk of the body rejecting the cloned organ since it has the same genetic code. This will be harmless and directly help the patients. Cloning can get rid of this problem by creating more animals who can be suitable donors. There are successful cases of pig livers being transplanted to humans as a temporary measure while waiting for a human liver. In addition, a burn victim can be helped by growing skin using his or her own skin cells and cloning them. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 1.1 Solution to infertility Approximately 15% of Americans are infertile. Most of the time, doctors are unable to help them. Federal statistics reveal that in-vitro fertilization and other related technologies have a success rate of less than 20%. These technologies cannot help many couples. Couples are having a hard time trying to have children and they must go through painful procedures. In addition, they are also expensive and take up a lot of time. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) Due to the ethical issues of cloning, some states have prohibited human cloning. However, couples struggling to have children are now beginning to mull over the promises that cloning presents. The current infertility treatments are not improving as many people think that infertility is not a medical problem. Thus, cloning can be the answer to infertility. Doctors can implant the cloned embryos into the bodies of infertile women. Hence, these women can have their own babies and it can remove the mental and physical pains of many infertile couples. (The advantages of cloning viewed 31 July 2010) 1.2 Increasing populations of endangered species Cloning can help to increase the populations of species who are in danger of extinction. It may be even possible to reverse the extinctions that by now would have occurred. Even though conservationists worldwide are doing their best already, there are still some species that are near to extinction. To save the scarce species, conservations have used captive propagation programs. There is a need for further propagation programs due to limitations such as constrained physical space for animals, problems with animal husbandry, and common reproductive failure of the animals. (CLONING: Bringing Back Endangered Species viewed 7 August 2010) A majority of ethicists who disagree strongly with human cloning spots no trouble in using this method to save endangered species. Since 1973, the bucardo was listed as an endangered species. However, officials were unable to stop the poaching and the total destruction of their habitats that finally led to the bucardos extinction. In another case, there are a few remaining Chinese panda which will most probably be cloned. (CLONING: Bringing Back Endangered Species viewed 7 August 2010) 1.3 Genetic engineering It is achievable to produce a particular characteristic in humans. Parents have the chance to select the traits that they want present in their child. For example, they want their child to be as smart as Albert Einstein. This makes it possible to produce people with certain merits, particular pleasing personality, thus humans become a man-made being. Some scientists believe that cloning is good as humans can be in charge of their evolvement so the world can produce more artists, athletes and scientists. Cloning can bring back peoples dead ancestors to life. For example, if you want to produce your great-grandmother, you only need to preserve some samples of her body cells. It is that simple. (Human cloning viewed 31 July 2010) 1.4 Provide treatments for different diseases Cloning of stem cells can provide treatments for different diseases. With the proper prompts, stem cells are able to change into other cell types. Hence, it is possible for doctors to replace the tissues and injured organs to reinstate healthy function. Therapeutic applications of stem cells potentially could treat illnesses including: Parkinsons disease, diabetes, Alzheimers disease, stroke, heart attack, multiple sclerosis, blood, bone and bone marrow ailments, severe burns by providing skin grafts, spinal cord injuries, and cancer patients who have lost cells and tissue to radiation and chemotherapy. (The advantages of cloning 31 July 2010) Cloning can cure terminal diseases. Patients may be cured if doctors try to develop a helpful gene therapy. 1.5 Research purposes Scientists are able to take modified organisms and utilize them for the health benefits of society. Duplicating animals by cloning can be used for research purposes. This can help researchers in genetics as they may understand more on the arrangement of genes and the effects of hereditary constituents on human characteristics. They can simplify their study of genes since they can change the genetic components in the human being who is cloned. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-cloning.html) It is crucial to research on cloning so that well-matched tissues and organs can be created for the patients who are being treated with stem cell therapy. Stem cells must be obtained from embryos created by a patients own cells. This will not allow any rejection problems related to organ and tissue transplants. This would require research cloning. If research cloning is restricted, therapies helpful to millions of people could be delayed. Delays cannot be allowed in the progress of techniques that could save many lives or put a stop to suffering. It is intolerable to restrict and form of medical research in a free society. People have their rights to practice any scientific investigation, especially medical investigation. Our lives have already been enhanced immeasurably by medical technology. Therefore, we ought to maintain continuous improvement. (Research Cloning Arguments Pro and Con viewed 10 August 2010) 1.6 The healthiness of infants Cloning can abolish the worries concerning the health of a child. Scientists can modify the genes to guarantee a healthy child. For example, if a mother has given birth to a child who suffers from Downs syndrome. Doctors will be able to control and balance out the number of chromosomes in the embryo so that the child may be normal and healthy. (The advantages of cloning viewed 31 July 2010) This will ensure that the child will grow up with no disorders and will be a normal child. 1.7 Improving food supply In the agricultural business, people can improve the quality and quantity of beef by simply cloning the farm animals with desired characteristics. Diseases like foot and mouth disease could be eliminated. Cloning can also cultivate crops that are tougher and more resilient to diseases. Therefore, cloning may successfully resolve the worlds food problem and lessen or if possible, eliminate starvation. (The advantages and disadvantages of cloning, viewed 7 August 2010) 1.8 Reverse the aging process Cloning can reverse the effects of aging and our aging process. The anti-aging market is already a multibillion industry. Every cloned body cell is a brand new cell. It is the precise replica of an existing cell. However, the difference is it is not as old as the model. A person could make his body younger by cloning his body cells and implanting these cells into his body when he is older. This method can allow humans to live up to any age they want. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 1.9 Cosmetic surgery Cloning can help improve reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. Even until now, cosmetic surgery may be dangerous as the used equipments are unknown to the body. For example, silicone breast implants can cause immune disease. Doctors have the skill to construct bone, fat and connective tissue that can precisely match the patients tissues. Therefore, if a person wants to change his or her appearance, there would be no risks involved. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 2. Disadvantages of cloning 2.0 Loosing the diversity of genes Human beings need DNA variety for survivability in future particularly if there are unpredictable things. Cloning can drastically hinder that. This is because matching genes are created by cloning and it is procedure of duplicating the entire genetic constitution. Humans will be so alike in human cloning. They will have the same type of genes. The genetic characteristics of its ancestor will be passed on to the next human clone. This will include genetic abnormalities and diseases. (Pros and cons of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) For example, some think that Dolly the sheep had signs of premature aging, but her developers confidently denied it. There is a risk of the whole population getting infected by the similar kind of pathogen. Everyone cannot have the same type of genes and be close to one another otherwise they might not be able to protect themselves against the similar type of severe disease. People cannot foresee or guess when viruses or other harmful agents grow. So, the cloned species will not know how to respond to it. It will be a huge disaster if everyone gets affected. For example, all the rice in the world is cloned. Gradually, only one type of rice is produced but with more nutrition. Soon, the other types of rice are not produced anymore and its DNA variants cease to exist. Later in the future, the rice crop is hit by a disease and is totally wiped out. The world will be lack of rice. (What are the pros and cons of cloning? viewed 31 July 2010) 2.1 Inbreeding Parents have special sets of genes and this leads to the diversity of genes. Cloning can cause inbreeding as human cloning copy the matching genes. The diversity of genes will lessen. So everyone will have similar genotype and keep on procreating among themselves. Finally, it leads us to our own extinction. The differences that we see in people are the splendor of humanity and cloning will get rid of surprises since all look alike.(Disadvantages of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) 2.2 Risk of abuse If man is allowed to meddle with genetics in humans, then cloning can increase the probability of intentional reproduction of unattractive characteristics in humans if it is so preferred. This may cause open up likelihood of abuse in medical fraternity. Scientists might misuse the technology. If a couple is not happy with their clone, what is the next step they might choose? Some people say that clones can be grown in a farm-like approach just for harvesting organs or stem cells. We must not ignore the prospect of devaluing human life for life is precious. (The advantages and disadvantages of cloning, viewed 7 August 2010) 2.3 The uncertainty of science and technology Science and technology cannot provide solutions for every problem. Not even the scientists can promise that they can solve everything. Behind every problem, there are clearly several possible crises. Naturally, these doubts are not practical to bring to a standstill all the developments of science and technology. There is no guarantee that if the human clone survives, it will develop normally. (Disadvantages of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) The incident of trying to clone new mammals indicates that most of the human clones would have genetically related diseases. If there was creation of embryos, majority of them would have critical deformity, several of which only will be evident late in pregnancy. Testing for genetic deformity would eradicate a percentage of such deformities, but only at the expense of getting rid of the unborn baby itself. Out of the many babies born alive, many will have disabilities being inflicted on them negligently due to the methods used to create them. (Cloning and Stem Cell Research, viewed 10 August 2010) 2.4 The element of uncertainty Dolly, the cloned sheep, was regarded as an achievement story. However, before Dolly was cloned, there were actually many embryos which were destroyed. The cloning process began with 277 eggs, of which only Dolly is the successful result. The field of cloning still needs to improve a lot apart from the success in other areas. For example, for infertile couples, if in-vitro fertilization failed, they may go through the similar distress. (The advantages and disadvantages of cloning, viewed 7 August 2010) 2.5 Potential costs At the moment, reproducing animals by other ways are much cheaper than to clone. Although the failure rate of cloning is expected to reduce, it still remains high if cloning is taken on a wider scale in addition to the cost. There will be many disabled babies and many pregnant women who have suffered a lot to make cloning safe. Some people may be unwilling to eat the cloned meat. Hence, the value of the cloned animals will decrease. (What are the pros and cons of cloning? viewed 31July 2010) 2.6 Research cloning Several studies have proposed that research cloning would not be an essential or attractive method to overwhelm immune rejection. Developing stem cells are shown to be less expected to encourage rejection following transplantation than other cell types. If this is verified to be true, beneficial tissues can be developed from obtainable embryonic stem cell lines rather than from the cell lines modified for an individual patient. Another current investigation suggests that by reprogramming a few of the patients individual cells, it may ultimately accomplish identical results. (Research Cloning Arguments Pro and Con, viewed 10 August 2010) Research cloning would be very expensive if it is used in the routine medical measures. It would be very labor demanding and costly to create the cloned embryos. Womens health supporters are apprehensive about the healthiness and social justice implications of creating a human eggs market where most of the donors are probably poor women. (Research Cloning Arguments Pro and Con, viewed 10 August 2010) 2.7 Health risks It is not only the child who would be mistreated in such untried reproduction but also those women who want to gestate a cloned child. The women would be in danger of trauma of an extremely high rate of miscarriage, the shock of being offered abortion when serious deformities were found in the uterus, and the wellbeing risks of a hard and unusual pregnancy. It would be reckless of the scientists to inflict such risks on any human no matter what the motives of the women who decided to take part. (Cloning and Stem Cell Research, viewed 10 August 2010) 2.8 A type of parental control The cloned child would have no genetic parents. The child would be a replica of some live person, perhaps someone who had only just died. Even though the clone has survived and is in good shape, he will most likely live in the shadow of the original person, under pressure to be alike that person he was created to be similar to. The childrens interest in establishing their own identity is compromised. The childs freedom is subjected unfairly to the parents wishes. This makes cloning a type of extreme parental control because the child is created as a replica of a person selected by the parents. (Cloning and Stem Cell Research, viewed 10 August 2010) 3. Ethical issues of cloning 3.01 ‘Closed future Some people believe that cloning will cause children to not have an open future as they will become exactly like the person they are a clone of. They may also be exactly the opposite of the person they are a clone of. Religious organizations think that cloning gives humans a lot of power and that cloning does not care about the truth that every human has matchless soul. (Cloning, viewed 11 August 2010) 3.02 Unnatural way A lot of people think that cloning is unnatural as cloning needs a considerably bigger level of participation and meddling with animals reproductive performance than traditional production methods. Some religious groups, such as Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths, do not accept animal cloning. They view cloning and genetic modification as equivalent to playing God. Many others perceive this as an infringement of the distinctiveness of a human life, which each of us and no one else have received from God. (Cloning information, cloning ethics) Can we play God? Some think that we should just let things be the way they are as that is the way they are meant to be and we should not try to change that as it is natures creation. Others think that the world can be free of cancers and tumors and perhaps save lives too. Others believe in restricting the means of unique types of cloning using harmless ways. (Understanding the issues of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) 3.03 Risk of abuse People fear that someone would form armies of military or even create huge amounts of human resources. This would result in clones being treated as the lower class people or the second class people and compromising individualities. Human cloning can bring serious jeopardy of abuses to human self-esteem and misuse by corrupt people. (Cloning information, cloning ethics, viewed 31 July 2010) 3.04 Morally wrong to kill or extend life Although therapeutic cloning presents the possibility for caring for humans who are suffering from ailment or wounds, the procedure of taking out stem cells is the same as killing the human being as it will involve the annihilation of embryos. Religious and morally traditionally people think that is morally wrong to take the life of one person just to save or extend another persons life. However, other people believe that embryos do not need any ethical thoughts as it is just a cluster of cells that holds the DNA when is cloned, and are similar to the millions of skin cells that we discard daily. At that stage, the embryonic cells should not be thought of as the same as humans as the brain, feelings, inner organs, body and so on are not present. They believe that only when the brain grows and becomes conscious of itself then it has attained human personhood. (Rita Putatunda) 3.05 Not the exact same animal Every creature that is shaped by life experience is more than an incarnation of his DNA. The cloned animal would look identical and bring pet lovers happy memories but it is not the same animal that they are looking at. Only the DNA is the same. (Wayne Pacelle) 3.06 Genetic disorders If a particular animal is cloned several times and it has a virus, then its clones would bear the identical virus and this may cause a food shortage. It is likely that genetic disorders will occur. If a section of DNA is taken from a person to be duplicated, that person may be bearing a code for some kind of ailment which the symptoms of it would not show till later in that persons life. Thus, that same code would be duplicated to make another person carry the same ailment. (Understanding the issues of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) 3.07 Pollute the diversity Reproducing traits that parents want would pollute the diversity of the world. If people can decide what traits their child should have, majority would choose the traits of well-known people who are very clever or gorgeous. Cloning can cause designer babies as the fertilized egg cell can be made better with additional genes for particular traits. The cloned people would be so alike in characteristics and their thinking that the world would be a very dull place if this were the case. (Understanding the issues of cloning) Moreover, the egg cell can be checked for genetic diseases. If the disease does not exist, it can be placed in the womans womb, or else it will be destroyed. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 3.08 Unknown identity of the child There are some who think that cloning is not safe for delivery of the baby. They are of the opinion that babies should not be created by unnatural ways and should have a variety of genes different from his parents. For the cloning purposes, the egg is obtained from a different woman; sperm is obtained from a different man who is not the father of the baby and is inseminated in the laboratory. The fertilized embryo is then placed in another mother who is not the one whom the egg was obtained. It will be unsure who the biological parents of the child are when the child is born. The childs identity will continue to be a mystery. (Ethical issues related to human and animal cloning, viewed 1 July 2010) 3.09 Clash with religious principles There is a possibility that reproductive cloning may create a human that is genetically matching to a person who was formerly alive or who now currently is live. This might clash with ancient religious and common principles on self-respect, perhaps violating the main beliefs of individual liberty, individuality and sovereignty. However, some people disagree with that. They believe that infertile couples can achieve their vision of parenthood by reproductive cloning. Other people think human cloning is a method to steer clear of a destructive gene that is hereditary in the family without having to go through embryo testing. (What are some of the ethical issues related to cloning, viewed 3 August 2010) 3.10 Worsen the wellbeing of animals Cloning may cause people to treat animals like an object. People may treat these living emotional beings as plain machinery for human creation. Also, communities are becoming more and more conscious of the handling of farm animals. A lot of people are worried for cloning worsens the wellbeing of animals as the animals are likely to bear hurting infections of udder, lameness and also production related diseases. (Ethics, viewed 3 August 2010) 3.11 Different personalities Cloning cannot make sure that the genetically similar humans will have the similar individual thinking or goals as the model. For instance, it is not certain that the baby whose embryo was made better with genes for musical talent will become a well-known pianist one day. Even if the child has a musical flair, it is for him to decide whether he will use them or not. If the child has no interest in going for piano lessons, then the talent will remain undiscovered. It is the same problem when one tries to replace the one he loves. Impractical hope on how the personality will be may cause disappointments. Obviously the outer appearance of the clone will be closely identical but the character may be poles apart. The clone cannot be a replacement for another person. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 3.12 Two classes of people There will be two classes of humans if most of the people are cloned, the one whos gene is enhanced and the one who is produced naturally. The one whose gene is enhanced will definitely have many advantages in life as they were given particular flairs. They will be rich as only the rich ones will have enough money to improve their child with particular genes. They also have a higher chance of obtaining better jobs than other people due to their particular talents so they will be even wealthier. Affluent people always have loads of power. Sooner or later, the well-off gene-enhanced people may be the most influential ones. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) Conclusion Given the advanced technology and the success of the cloned sheep, Dolly, more scientists will be trying their best to improve the process of cloning. As seen from the information above, cloning is still not an advanced technology. There are a lot of risks involved that concern the health of the humans and the clones. I feel that it is unfair for us to intervene in choosing the special talents for our children. We should be happy with what we have and our own talents. It is unfair to other people if we enhance our own genes. Cloning costs a lot and only those wealthy people can afford it. What about those less wealthy people? This may cause an even bigger inequality in our society which we would want to avoid. Also, it is unnatural. Although cloning can make us immortal, in the long run, it will cause overpopulation in the world. There are both sides to cloning which we must consider very seriously before we legalize or ban it. It is an issue which must be handled carefully. Cloning can bring the world benefits but can also destroy us. Both sides of the arguments seem very convincing. Everyone will have different opinions to cloning based on their religious values or their own principles. It is difficult to say whether cloning is ethically right or wrong. If the government decides to legalize it, there will definitely be some people who will protest against it and vice versa. The government must ensure that cloning is not used for the wrong and unethical purposes. It can be dangerous if the technology of cloning is in the wrong hands. Who knows what hidden motives they have? Human lives are very important. We must not devalue our lives. Ethical Issues in Cloning Ethical Issues in Cloning Thesis Statement: Although cloning has been successful to a certain extent, there have also been a high percentage of failures which has raised some ethical issues. Preface I was in a dilemma whether to choose teen pregnancy or cloning. When I did some research for these 2 topics, I realized cloning has been around for decades and I thought it was only quite recent. My misunderstanding led me to further research on the topic. However, I was also researching on teen pregnancy as it is quite common these days. There are cases of teen pregnancy in the newspapers. It is shocking to see cases with pregnant girls as young as nine-years old. There are human cloning and animal cloning. Some pets are also cloned. It is quite surprising that people would want to clone their pets as it is very costly. Human cloning has caused a debate. Certain religions such as Protestants, Catholics, Buddhism and Islam think that cloning a human is like being God. They do not think it is right. Also, there are many risks involved. On the contrary, there are some who thinks that it is peoples own decision. It is like your freedom rights. You can make the decision. After much deliberation, I decided cloning is much more interesting. I am sure not many people know a lot about cloning. Teen pregnancy is a common topic, one that you have heard many times. Therefore, ultimately, I chose the topic cloning. Introduction Cloning describes the processes used to create an exact genetic replica of another cell, tissue or organism. The copied material, which has the same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as a clone. There are three different types of cloning: Gene cloning, Reproductive cloning and Therapeutic cloning. Gene cloning creates copies of genes or segments of DNA. It can identify genetic abnormalities. Reproductive cloning creates copies of whole animals. Therapeutic cloning creates embryonic  stem cells. It is for medical use. Researchers hope to use these cells to grow healthy tissue to replace injured or diseased tissues in the human body. (National Human Genome Research Institute viewed 31 July 2010) The purpose of reproductive cloning is for research. It uses a method called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT). It can repopulate endangered species or make breeding of certain animals less difficult and can produce creatures with particular traits, such as genetically special animals. (Therapeutic cloning vs. reproductive cloning, viewed 31 August 2010) In 1996, scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland have successfully cloned a sheep, named Dolly. However, Dolly was produced only after 276 attempts. The success rate ranges from 0.1 percent to 3 percent, which means that for every 1000 tries, only 1 to 30 clones are made. (What are the risks of cloning, viewed 7 August 2010) Cloning has its disadvantages and advantages. Some advantages are solution to infertility; provide treatments for variety of diseases and genetic modification. Some disadvantages are the uncertainty of science technology, the great diseases and leading to extinction. There are also ethical issues such as unnatural acts, changing the diversity of society and risks of abuse and exploitations. Although cloning has been successful to a certain extent, there have also been a high percentage of failures which has raised some ethical issues. 1. Advantages of cloning 1.0 Provide organs for transplantation If it is possible to clone the essential organs or body parts of the human body, then they may be able to operate as support systems. The cloned body parts can act as human beings lifesaver. For example, when a kidney or any other organ fail to act properly, it may be possible to use the newly cloned organ and take out the spoiled organ. Cloning can make new organs required for organ transplants. It offers hope to people needing organ transplants since people requiring them often have to wait for years for an appropriate donor. There are many cases whereby patients die waiting because of the numerous people requiring organs. (Human cloning viewed 31 July 2010) Also, patients with an implanted organ must take loads of medicine that can cause side effects everyday as long as they live. This is to guarantee that their body does not reject the implanted organ. These side effects can decrease their life quality. Anyone can clone his or her own organs. The cloned organ would be produced from the body cell of the person who needs the transplant. This will reduce the high risk of the body rejecting the cloned organ since it has the same genetic code. This will be harmless and directly help the patients. Cloning can get rid of this problem by creating more animals who can be suitable donors. There are successful cases of pig livers being transplanted to humans as a temporary measure while waiting for a human liver. In addition, a burn victim can be helped by growing skin using his or her own skin cells and cloning them. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 1.1 Solution to infertility Approximately 15% of Americans are infertile. Most of the time, doctors are unable to help them. Federal statistics reveal that in-vitro fertilization and other related technologies have a success rate of less than 20%. These technologies cannot help many couples. Couples are having a hard time trying to have children and they must go through painful procedures. In addition, they are also expensive and take up a lot of time. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) Due to the ethical issues of cloning, some states have prohibited human cloning. However, couples struggling to have children are now beginning to mull over the promises that cloning presents. The current infertility treatments are not improving as many people think that infertility is not a medical problem. Thus, cloning can be the answer to infertility. Doctors can implant the cloned embryos into the bodies of infertile women. Hence, these women can have their own babies and it can remove the mental and physical pains of many infertile couples. (The advantages of cloning viewed 31 July 2010) 1.2 Increasing populations of endangered species Cloning can help to increase the populations of species who are in danger of extinction. It may be even possible to reverse the extinctions that by now would have occurred. Even though conservationists worldwide are doing their best already, there are still some species that are near to extinction. To save the scarce species, conservations have used captive propagation programs. There is a need for further propagation programs due to limitations such as constrained physical space for animals, problems with animal husbandry, and common reproductive failure of the animals. (CLONING: Bringing Back Endangered Species viewed 7 August 2010) A majority of ethicists who disagree strongly with human cloning spots no trouble in using this method to save endangered species. Since 1973, the bucardo was listed as an endangered species. However, officials were unable to stop the poaching and the total destruction of their habitats that finally led to the bucardos extinction. In another case, there are a few remaining Chinese panda which will most probably be cloned. (CLONING: Bringing Back Endangered Species viewed 7 August 2010) 1.3 Genetic engineering It is achievable to produce a particular characteristic in humans. Parents have the chance to select the traits that they want present in their child. For example, they want their child to be as smart as Albert Einstein. This makes it possible to produce people with certain merits, particular pleasing personality, thus humans become a man-made being. Some scientists believe that cloning is good as humans can be in charge of their evolvement so the world can produce more artists, athletes and scientists. Cloning can bring back peoples dead ancestors to life. For example, if you want to produce your great-grandmother, you only need to preserve some samples of her body cells. It is that simple. (Human cloning viewed 31 July 2010) 1.4 Provide treatments for different diseases Cloning of stem cells can provide treatments for different diseases. With the proper prompts, stem cells are able to change into other cell types. Hence, it is possible for doctors to replace the tissues and injured organs to reinstate healthy function. Therapeutic applications of stem cells potentially could treat illnesses including: Parkinsons disease, diabetes, Alzheimers disease, stroke, heart attack, multiple sclerosis, blood, bone and bone marrow ailments, severe burns by providing skin grafts, spinal cord injuries, and cancer patients who have lost cells and tissue to radiation and chemotherapy. (The advantages of cloning 31 July 2010) Cloning can cure terminal diseases. Patients may be cured if doctors try to develop a helpful gene therapy. 1.5 Research purposes Scientists are able to take modified organisms and utilize them for the health benefits of society. Duplicating animals by cloning can be used for research purposes. This can help researchers in genetics as they may understand more on the arrangement of genes and the effects of hereditary constituents on human characteristics. They can simplify their study of genes since they can change the genetic components in the human being who is cloned. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-cloning.html) It is crucial to research on cloning so that well-matched tissues and organs can be created for the patients who are being treated with stem cell therapy. Stem cells must be obtained from embryos created by a patients own cells. This will not allow any rejection problems related to organ and tissue transplants. This would require research cloning. If research cloning is restricted, therapies helpful to millions of people could be delayed. Delays cannot be allowed in the progress of techniques that could save many lives or put a stop to suffering. It is intolerable to restrict and form of medical research in a free society. People have their rights to practice any scientific investigation, especially medical investigation. Our lives have already been enhanced immeasurably by medical technology. Therefore, we ought to maintain continuous improvement. (Research Cloning Arguments Pro and Con viewed 10 August 2010) 1.6 The healthiness of infants Cloning can abolish the worries concerning the health of a child. Scientists can modify the genes to guarantee a healthy child. For example, if a mother has given birth to a child who suffers from Downs syndrome. Doctors will be able to control and balance out the number of chromosomes in the embryo so that the child may be normal and healthy. (The advantages of cloning viewed 31 July 2010) This will ensure that the child will grow up with no disorders and will be a normal child. 1.7 Improving food supply In the agricultural business, people can improve the quality and quantity of beef by simply cloning the farm animals with desired characteristics. Diseases like foot and mouth disease could be eliminated. Cloning can also cultivate crops that are tougher and more resilient to diseases. Therefore, cloning may successfully resolve the worlds food problem and lessen or if possible, eliminate starvation. (The advantages and disadvantages of cloning, viewed 7 August 2010) 1.8 Reverse the aging process Cloning can reverse the effects of aging and our aging process. The anti-aging market is already a multibillion industry. Every cloned body cell is a brand new cell. It is the precise replica of an existing cell. However, the difference is it is not as old as the model. A person could make his body younger by cloning his body cells and implanting these cells into his body when he is older. This method can allow humans to live up to any age they want. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 1.9 Cosmetic surgery Cloning can help improve reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. Even until now, cosmetic surgery may be dangerous as the used equipments are unknown to the body. For example, silicone breast implants can cause immune disease. Doctors have the skill to construct bone, fat and connective tissue that can precisely match the patients tissues. Therefore, if a person wants to change his or her appearance, there would be no risks involved. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 2. Disadvantages of cloning 2.0 Loosing the diversity of genes Human beings need DNA variety for survivability in future particularly if there are unpredictable things. Cloning can drastically hinder that. This is because matching genes are created by cloning and it is procedure of duplicating the entire genetic constitution. Humans will be so alike in human cloning. They will have the same type of genes. The genetic characteristics of its ancestor will be passed on to the next human clone. This will include genetic abnormalities and diseases. (Pros and cons of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) For example, some think that Dolly the sheep had signs of premature aging, but her developers confidently denied it. There is a risk of the whole population getting infected by the similar kind of pathogen. Everyone cannot have the same type of genes and be close to one another otherwise they might not be able to protect themselves against the similar type of severe disease. People cannot foresee or guess when viruses or other harmful agents grow. So, the cloned species will not know how to respond to it. It will be a huge disaster if everyone gets affected. For example, all the rice in the world is cloned. Gradually, only one type of rice is produced but with more nutrition. Soon, the other types of rice are not produced anymore and its DNA variants cease to exist. Later in the future, the rice crop is hit by a disease and is totally wiped out. The world will be lack of rice. (What are the pros and cons of cloning? viewed 31 July 2010) 2.1 Inbreeding Parents have special sets of genes and this leads to the diversity of genes. Cloning can cause inbreeding as human cloning copy the matching genes. The diversity of genes will lessen. So everyone will have similar genotype and keep on procreating among themselves. Finally, it leads us to our own extinction. The differences that we see in people are the splendor of humanity and cloning will get rid of surprises since all look alike.(Disadvantages of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) 2.2 Risk of abuse If man is allowed to meddle with genetics in humans, then cloning can increase the probability of intentional reproduction of unattractive characteristics in humans if it is so preferred. This may cause open up likelihood of abuse in medical fraternity. Scientists might misuse the technology. If a couple is not happy with their clone, what is the next step they might choose? Some people say that clones can be grown in a farm-like approach just for harvesting organs or stem cells. We must not ignore the prospect of devaluing human life for life is precious. (The advantages and disadvantages of cloning, viewed 7 August 2010) 2.3 The uncertainty of science and technology Science and technology cannot provide solutions for every problem. Not even the scientists can promise that they can solve everything. Behind every problem, there are clearly several possible crises. Naturally, these doubts are not practical to bring to a standstill all the developments of science and technology. There is no guarantee that if the human clone survives, it will develop normally. (Disadvantages of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) The incident of trying to clone new mammals indicates that most of the human clones would have genetically related diseases. If there was creation of embryos, majority of them would have critical deformity, several of which only will be evident late in pregnancy. Testing for genetic deformity would eradicate a percentage of such deformities, but only at the expense of getting rid of the unborn baby itself. Out of the many babies born alive, many will have disabilities being inflicted on them negligently due to the methods used to create them. (Cloning and Stem Cell Research, viewed 10 August 2010) 2.4 The element of uncertainty Dolly, the cloned sheep, was regarded as an achievement story. However, before Dolly was cloned, there were actually many embryos which were destroyed. The cloning process began with 277 eggs, of which only Dolly is the successful result. The field of cloning still needs to improve a lot apart from the success in other areas. For example, for infertile couples, if in-vitro fertilization failed, they may go through the similar distress. (The advantages and disadvantages of cloning, viewed 7 August 2010) 2.5 Potential costs At the moment, reproducing animals by other ways are much cheaper than to clone. Although the failure rate of cloning is expected to reduce, it still remains high if cloning is taken on a wider scale in addition to the cost. There will be many disabled babies and many pregnant women who have suffered a lot to make cloning safe. Some people may be unwilling to eat the cloned meat. Hence, the value of the cloned animals will decrease. (What are the pros and cons of cloning? viewed 31July 2010) 2.6 Research cloning Several studies have proposed that research cloning would not be an essential or attractive method to overwhelm immune rejection. Developing stem cells are shown to be less expected to encourage rejection following transplantation than other cell types. If this is verified to be true, beneficial tissues can be developed from obtainable embryonic stem cell lines rather than from the cell lines modified for an individual patient. Another current investigation suggests that by reprogramming a few of the patients individual cells, it may ultimately accomplish identical results. (Research Cloning Arguments Pro and Con, viewed 10 August 2010) Research cloning would be very expensive if it is used in the routine medical measures. It would be very labor demanding and costly to create the cloned embryos. Womens health supporters are apprehensive about the healthiness and social justice implications of creating a human eggs market where most of the donors are probably poor women. (Research Cloning Arguments Pro and Con, viewed 10 August 2010) 2.7 Health risks It is not only the child who would be mistreated in such untried reproduction but also those women who want to gestate a cloned child. The women would be in danger of trauma of an extremely high rate of miscarriage, the shock of being offered abortion when serious deformities were found in the uterus, and the wellbeing risks of a hard and unusual pregnancy. It would be reckless of the scientists to inflict such risks on any human no matter what the motives of the women who decided to take part. (Cloning and Stem Cell Research, viewed 10 August 2010) 2.8 A type of parental control The cloned child would have no genetic parents. The child would be a replica of some live person, perhaps someone who had only just died. Even though the clone has survived and is in good shape, he will most likely live in the shadow of the original person, under pressure to be alike that person he was created to be similar to. The childrens interest in establishing their own identity is compromised. The childs freedom is subjected unfairly to the parents wishes. This makes cloning a type of extreme parental control because the child is created as a replica of a person selected by the parents. (Cloning and Stem Cell Research, viewed 10 August 2010) 3. Ethical issues of cloning 3.01 ‘Closed future Some people believe that cloning will cause children to not have an open future as they will become exactly like the person they are a clone of. They may also be exactly the opposite of the person they are a clone of. Religious organizations think that cloning gives humans a lot of power and that cloning does not care about the truth that every human has matchless soul. (Cloning, viewed 11 August 2010) 3.02 Unnatural way A lot of people think that cloning is unnatural as cloning needs a considerably bigger level of participation and meddling with animals reproductive performance than traditional production methods. Some religious groups, such as Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths, do not accept animal cloning. They view cloning and genetic modification as equivalent to playing God. Many others perceive this as an infringement of the distinctiveness of a human life, which each of us and no one else have received from God. (Cloning information, cloning ethics) Can we play God? Some think that we should just let things be the way they are as that is the way they are meant to be and we should not try to change that as it is natures creation. Others think that the world can be free of cancers and tumors and perhaps save lives too. Others believe in restricting the means of unique types of cloning using harmless ways. (Understanding the issues of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) 3.03 Risk of abuse People fear that someone would form armies of military or even create huge amounts of human resources. This would result in clones being treated as the lower class people or the second class people and compromising individualities. Human cloning can bring serious jeopardy of abuses to human self-esteem and misuse by corrupt people. (Cloning information, cloning ethics, viewed 31 July 2010) 3.04 Morally wrong to kill or extend life Although therapeutic cloning presents the possibility for caring for humans who are suffering from ailment or wounds, the procedure of taking out stem cells is the same as killing the human being as it will involve the annihilation of embryos. Religious and morally traditionally people think that is morally wrong to take the life of one person just to save or extend another persons life. However, other people believe that embryos do not need any ethical thoughts as it is just a cluster of cells that holds the DNA when is cloned, and are similar to the millions of skin cells that we discard daily. At that stage, the embryonic cells should not be thought of as the same as humans as the brain, feelings, inner organs, body and so on are not present. They believe that only when the brain grows and becomes conscious of itself then it has attained human personhood. (Rita Putatunda) 3.05 Not the exact same animal Every creature that is shaped by life experience is more than an incarnation of his DNA. The cloned animal would look identical and bring pet lovers happy memories but it is not the same animal that they are looking at. Only the DNA is the same. (Wayne Pacelle) 3.06 Genetic disorders If a particular animal is cloned several times and it has a virus, then its clones would bear the identical virus and this may cause a food shortage. It is likely that genetic disorders will occur. If a section of DNA is taken from a person to be duplicated, that person may be bearing a code for some kind of ailment which the symptoms of it would not show till later in that persons life. Thus, that same code would be duplicated to make another person carry the same ailment. (Understanding the issues of cloning, viewed 31 July 2010) 3.07 Pollute the diversity Reproducing traits that parents want would pollute the diversity of the world. If people can decide what traits their child should have, majority would choose the traits of well-known people who are very clever or gorgeous. Cloning can cause designer babies as the fertilized egg cell can be made better with additional genes for particular traits. The cloned people would be so alike in characteristics and their thinking that the world would be a very dull place if this were the case. (Understanding the issues of cloning) Moreover, the egg cell can be checked for genetic diseases. If the disease does not exist, it can be placed in the womans womb, or else it will be destroyed. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 3.08 Unknown identity of the child There are some who think that cloning is not safe for delivery of the baby. They are of the opinion that babies should not be created by unnatural ways and should have a variety of genes different from his parents. For the cloning purposes, the egg is obtained from a different woman; sperm is obtained from a different man who is not the father of the baby and is inseminated in the laboratory. The fertilized embryo is then placed in another mother who is not the one whom the egg was obtained. It will be unsure who the biological parents of the child are when the child is born. The childs identity will continue to be a mystery. (Ethical issues related to human and animal cloning, viewed 1 July 2010) 3.09 Clash with religious principles There is a possibility that reproductive cloning may create a human that is genetically matching to a person who was formerly alive or who now currently is live. This might clash with ancient religious and common principles on self-respect, perhaps violating the main beliefs of individual liberty, individuality and sovereignty. However, some people disagree with that. They believe that infertile couples can achieve their vision of parenthood by reproductive cloning. Other people think human cloning is a method to steer clear of a destructive gene that is hereditary in the family without having to go through embryo testing. (What are some of the ethical issues related to cloning, viewed 3 August 2010) 3.10 Worsen the wellbeing of animals Cloning may cause people to treat animals like an object. People may treat these living emotional beings as plain machinery for human creation. Also, communities are becoming more and more conscious of the handling of farm animals. A lot of people are worried for cloning worsens the wellbeing of animals as the animals are likely to bear hurting infections of udder, lameness and also production related diseases. (Ethics, viewed 3 August 2010) 3.11 Different personalities Cloning cannot make sure that the genetically similar humans will have the similar individual thinking or goals as the model. For instance, it is not certain that the baby whose embryo was made better with genes for musical talent will become a well-known pianist one day. Even if the child has a musical flair, it is for him to decide whether he will use them or not. If the child has no interest in going for piano lessons, then the talent will remain undiscovered. It is the same problem when one tries to replace the one he loves. Impractical hope on how the personality will be may cause disappointments. Obviously the outer appearance of the clone will be closely identical but the character may be poles apart. The clone cannot be a replacement for another person. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) 3.12 Two classes of people There will be two classes of humans if most of the people are cloned, the one whos gene is enhanced and the one who is produced naturally. The one whose gene is enhanced will definitely have many advantages in life as they were given particular flairs. They will be rich as only the rich ones will have enough money to improve their child with particular genes. They also have a higher chance of obtaining better jobs than other people due to their particular talents so they will be even wealthier. Affluent people always have loads of power. Sooner or later, the well-off gene-enhanced people may be the most influential ones. (Sabine Reinhold, viewed 7 August 2010) Conclusion Given the advanced technology and the success of the cloned sheep, Dolly, more scientists will be trying their best to improve the process of cloning. As seen from the information above, cloning is still not an advanced technology. There are a lot of risks involved that concern the health of the humans and the clones. I feel that it is unfair for us to intervene in choosing the special talents for our children. We should be happy with what we have and our own talents. It is unfair to other people if we enhance our own genes. Cloning costs a lot and only those wealthy people can afford it. What about those less wealthy people? This may cause an even bigger inequality in our society which we would want to avoid. Also, it is unnatural. Although cloning can make us immortal, in the long run, it will cause overpopulation in the world. There are both sides to cloning which we must consider very seriously before we legalize or ban it. It is an issue which must be handled carefully. Cloning can bring the world benefits but can also destroy us. Both sides of the arguments seem very convincing. Everyone will have different opinions to cloning based on their religious values or their own principles. It is difficult to say whether cloning is ethically right or wrong. If the government decides to legalize it, there will definitely be some people who will protest against it and vice versa. The government must ensure that cloning is not used for the wrong and unethical purposes. It can be dangerous if the technology of cloning is in the wrong hands. Who knows what hidden motives they have? Human lives are very important. We must not devalue our lives.