What is Cloning?

It is difficult to ignore the great strides science has achieved today. Giant leaps are specially made in research which enables us to acquire knowledge not available a few years back.  One of these is the cloning of human beings.

Cloning pertains to the creation of an organism that is an exact genetic copy of another. This means that every single bit of DNA found in one is the same as the other (University of Utah, Screen 1 ). Cloning is a very controversial issue today. The questions usually revolved on whether or not cloning is morally acceptable in our society. The controversy rages on as cloning of human beings is becoming more and more a perceivable reality. Several members of society are against cloning because of its perceived disadvantages.

There are two kinds of cloning:

1. Therapeutic cloning

In therapeutic cloning, the fertilized egg cell is harvested. When the cell divided a few times, the important embryonic stem cells can be taken from the developing embryo, killing the embryo. These embryonic stem cells are very valuable because they can only be acquired from umbilical cord or from embryos and they are critical for scientific research. The purpose of therapeutic cloning is to clone organs and tissue needed by patients (Reinhold, Screen 5-6).

2. Reproductive cloning
In reproductive cloning, he fertilized egg cell is implanted into the woman' womb where it will grow to full maturity like a "normal" sexually fertilized egg cell. Reproductive cloning then actually produces a human being that is genetically similar to a person. (Reinhold, Screen 6).