Human Cloning

            
             Human cloning is the production of one or more human beings that are genetically identical to another human being. Two different methods of cloning have been defined, these are; adult cloning where an adults DNA is cloned in order to create a replica adult in due course, and embryo cloning which is where the cloning is done by reproducing an identical embryo. However, in both cases the result is the same and a duplicated human being is created.
             The realization that human cloning is now actually possible is only very recent. The first successful cloning of any animal only took place in 1997 when a team of British scientists achieved what many had previously thought to have been quite impossible, the cloning of a single adult cell to create a whole new animal, Dolly the sheep. Researchers believe they can revolutionize medicine if they are allowed to apply to humans some of the technology pioneered in Dolly the sheep.
             However, so-called therapeutic cloning, which could result in cures for diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, is highly controversial as it requires experiments on early-stage embryos and therefore creates many arguments against it being able to take place. There are many arguments for and against cloning but the objection that is most often raised is that cloning is just simply not natural. However, even in nature clones are created all the time in the form of identical twins that are born in approximately 31/2 to 4 births out of every 1,000. It could be argued that these are not actually clones as there are slight differences such as different fingerprints, IQ's and sexual orientations.
             Cloning of humans raises many moral issues such as the religious concern that humans are 'playing at being God'. However, for some years now humans have already been 'playing at being God' in a way, because the creation of babies by means of surrogacy and IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) has already been accepted as 'normal'.