Human Cloning: Arguments Against

Leon Eisenberg, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Published online: July 2006

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0005225

The current debate about the ethics of cloning human beings rests on the premise that, as an adult, the clone would be identical to its progenitor. The significant role of gene–environment interactions in the production of the phenotype makes this proposition entirely untenable.

Keywords: genetic diversity; epigenesis; needful falsehoods; Plato's Republic; maternal behavior; plant cuttings; mitochondrial genes; axonal competition; nongenomic intergenerational transfer; lying for the state; maternal behavior; preformationism

 References
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 Further Reading
    Eisenberg L (2001) Why has the relationship between psychiatry and genetics been so contentious? Genetics in Medicine 3: 377–381.
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    book Plato The Republic. In: The Works of Plato, translated by B Jowett. New York, NY: Tudor Publishing.

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Bioethics | Philosophy of the Life Sciences
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Article Title: Human Cloning: Arguments Against
 
How to Cite close
Eisenberg, Leon(Jul 2006) Human Cloning: Arguments Against. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0005225]