Ethical and Legal Implications of Human Cloning
| Author | Rovena Kastrati |
| Position | University of Tirana |
| Pages | 83-91 |
Vo
l.
5
N
o
. 1
M
arch, 201
9
ISS
N 2410-391
8
A
cces on
l
ine at www.ii
p
cc
l
.or
g
83
A
cademic Journal o
f
Business,
A
dministration, Law and Social Sciences
II
PCCL Publishin
g
, Graz-
A
ustria
E
thical and Le
g
al Implications of Human Clonin
g
R
o
v
e
n
a
K
as
tr
a
t
i
U
niversity o
f
Tirana
Ab
str
a
ct
I
n February 1997, the media informed the entire world of the birth of the cloned Dolly the
Sheep, which sparked a huge international debate encompassing the ethical, social, cultural
a
nd legal spheres. The cloning debates are defi ned as events that constitute milestones in
the history of mankind. Those debates have exceeded the boundaries between the church
a
nd secular world, scientists and philosophers, and even those between politicians, ordinary
p
eople or prominent public
fi
gures, such as writers and actors, etc., thus engaging the entire
s
ociety.
A
lbania has also been involved in this vortex of signifi cantly essential debate. What
will happen
f
urther on?
A
er success
f
ul animal cloning, will it be the turn o
f
humans to be
cloned? Should human cloning be absolutely prohibited?
O
r should scientists be allowed to
work in order to perform medical services to the benefi t of humanity? This paper shall deal
with the ethical, religious and legal frameworks of human cloning, as well as the approach
a
dopted by the legislation of
A
lbania with regard to this global phenomenon
.
Ke
y
words
:
assisted reproduction, human cloning, reproductive cloning, therapeutic cloning,
e
thical contrast, le
g
al re
g
ulation
.
I
ntr
odu
ct
io
n
I
n bioethics, the ethics o
f
cloning re
f
ers to a variet
y
o
f
ethical
p
ositions regarding the
p
ractice and
p
ossibilities o
f
cloning, es
p
eciall
y
human cloning. While man
y
o
f
these
views are religious in origin, some o
f
the
q
uestions raised b
y
cloning are
f
aced b
y
secular
p
ers
p
ectives as well. The various
f
orms o
f
cloning, constitute one o
f
the most
c
ontroversia
l
to
p
ics nowa
d
a
y
s, as t
h
ere
h
ave
b
een numerous
d
eman
d
s an
d
a em
p
ts
f
or all activit
y
and
p
rogress in the human cloning
fi
eld to be halted.
C
loning shall be understood as re
f
erring to those natural or arti
fi
cial means that do
n
ot belong to sexual re
p
roduction, whereb
y
a grou
p
o
f
living cells or organisms shall
g
row
f
rom a uni
q
ue individual.
O
n the other hand, a clone shall be de
fi
ned as the
e
ntiret
y
o
f
cells or organisms that are geneticall
y
identical because the
y
originate
f
rom a uni
q
ue and common descendant (Çi
p
i & Meksi, 2017)
.
A
lthough the likelihood o
f
human cloning was a subject o
f
s
p
eculations
f
or the most
p
art o
f
the 2
0
t
h
centur
y
, scientists an
d
p
o
l
iticians
b
egan to consi
d
er t
h
is
p
ers
p
ective
more seriousl
y
around the mid-1960s. Following the cloning o
f
a shee
p
known as
“Doll
y
the Shee
p
” in 1997 b
y
means o
f
a nuclear trans
f
er o
f
somatic cells, the idea o
f
h
uman cloning became a hot to
p
ic o
f
debate. The announcement o
f
Doll
y
the Shee
p
triggered a whirlwind o
f
reactions and ignited
p
ublic imagination. The news was
c
alled “extraordinar
y
”, “scar
y
”, and even the “scienti
fi
c discover
y
o
f
the centur
y
.”
H
owever, the majorit
y
o
f
the comments
f
ocused not onl
y
on Doll
y
but also on the
h
uman cloning s
p
ectrum and the im
p
lications o
f
this achievement in human well
-
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