Cloning: Morality vs Science

Cloning is a revolutionary procedure that possesses the potential to impact humanity in various ways. However, when this idea was introduced and applied, the question became not whether cloning would have an impact in the world, but rather if the process of cloning would have a positive or negative impact.

Before stating an opinion on the presented topic, it becomes necessary to provide some background on how cloning is applied. Currently, there seems to be two applications of the cloning process: reproductive and therapeutic. In the reproductive method of cloning, a cloned embryo is implanted in the womb of a female with the intention of creating cloned offspring. An example of this method can be found in the cloning of Dolly—a lamb that was cloned by a group of embryologists led by Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell. The strategy used by this group was to replace the nucleus of an unfertilized egg with a “reconstructed” zygote from one animal and the egg cytoplasm from another animal. The process of collecting eggs, removing nuclei, and transplanting the donor cells for the clone proved to be an effective process that raised the question if humans could also be cloned. 

The “therapeutic” method of cloning is much like the reproductive procedure used; however, instead of producing a cloned embryo to place in a womb, the point of this procedure is to generate stem cells—as opposed to brining an egg to full term. The purpose of this strategy is to allow creation of tissues or organs that the clonal donor can use without having those tissues or organs rejected by his or her body's immune system.