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Basketball
practice, cruising the mall, homework, your favorite show, piano
lessons, how are you going to fit it all in? Clone
yourself! One of you could hit the mall, the other could hit the
books. Of course, you would have to wait about 15 years for your
clone to grow up. Hmm…maybe that won't work out.
Of course this
example is unrealistic, but the technology does exist to clone a
person. Cloning is a process that uses the tools of biotechnology
to replicate (copy) a single strand of DNA,
a single type of cell,
or the entire nucleus
of a cell. (The cloning of a nucleus was the process that led to
the creation of the famous sheep Dolly.)
 When
it comes to cloning animals, scientists say there are distinct advantages.
Cloning provides the opportunity to save endangered species from
extinction, or to bring back species that are already extinct. Cloning
animals also provides many medical opportunities. Large herds of
genetically identical animals could produce human medicines in their
milk (pharming);
they could be engineered to produce organs for transplant (xenotransplantation);
or, they could be used to research diseases that affect humans.
Opponents of
the technology say cloning leads us down a road full of risks, inevitably
leading to the temptation of cloning humans. Other objections to
cloning include the danger of reducing biodiversity.
Genetically identical species share the same strengths and weaknesses
and could all be wiped out by a single disease. Federally funded
research on cloning humans is currently banned in the U.S., most
of Europe, and Japan. But there is nothing to stop someone from
trying to clone people.
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UK
Cloning Controversy
 It's
a brave new world in Britain, the first country in the world to
legalize limited cloning of human embryos. More
Meet the
Mammal that Made History
 Dolly
the sheep was
the first successfully cloned mammal in history.Dolly
the sheep has arthritis. Is it because of the cloning procedure?
More
The Age of
Clones
 Do
clones age more quickly than "natural" organisms? Researchers
are looking into it. More
CopyCat
 The
first pet was cloned. CopyCat is a genetic clone of her "mother,"
Rainbow. More
PBS Newshour
Online Links
Should Congress ban cloning?
Me,
Myself and I
Human
reproductive cloning
Moral
and ethical questions of cloning
Cloning
seen from '97 old
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