Human Cloning

Introduction

The term cloning was first introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. Its root is the ancient Greek term which has a meaning of “twig” and referring to the process whereby a new plant can be created from a twig. A basic characteristic of cloning is that sexual reproduction is bypassed. The production of cloned DNA fragments, cells, or embryos is an important technique in the toolbox of molecular biotechnology. Cloning requires knowledge of embryology, genetics, and reproductive technology. It complements two other key technologies, genetic engineering (the transfer of genetic material from one organism to another) and genomics (the mapping, sequencing, and functional analysis of the entire genetic makeup of an organism).

In biological frameworks, Cloning is a commonly used and hotly-debated term. Medical advancements on cloning share public opinion and provoke debate on bioethics. The word clone comes from Greek and means “klon” which means a small branch or a sapling. Cloning refers to obtaining one or more individuals from a somatic cell or a nucleus of another individual, so that cloned individuals are identical or nearly identical to the original. The term "cloning" was first used in the year 1903, pointing to the origin of plants propagated by asexual reproduction (Choi, 36-38). Finally, cloning is also often regarded as biotech methods, used to obtain clones of artificial organisms, cells or molecules. The group of genetically identical organisms or cells is called a clone. There is a fine distinction between reproductive and therapeutic cloning. The first is to give birth to a genetically identical individual, as is the case of “Dolly-the sheep”. While therapeutic cloning is to clone cells and use them to recreate tissues or organs to treat patients.

Cloning Humans

Cloning occurs naturally in humans, in the form of monozygotic, or identical, twins. Monozygotic twins are derived from a single fertilized egg and hence share their basic genetic makeup. But they are of course not identical as the English term seems to imply. The idea of human cloning in the sense of creating or copying a person has surfaced in myth, religious discourse, and popular culture for a long time. In a context of the general techno-scientific optimism in the 1960s and 1970s, human cloning as a potentially profitable option was put forward by scientists such as Nobel laureates Joshua Lederberg and James D. Watson. At the end of the 20th century, the birth of Dolly shifted the possibility of cloning humans from science fiction to science practice. A distinction was introduced with regard to what happens after the application of nuclear replacement technology to human cells (Havstad, 71-77). The creation of a cloned human embryo for use (and eventual destruction) in research is now distinguished from the reproduction of a human being.

Therapeutic cloning refers to SCNT to clone a human embryo from which stem cells can be derived for therapies or cure, applications of the technique that do not involve the creation of genetically identical individuals through implanting the embryos into a womb. Therapeutic cloning is ...