What a lot of people don't know, is that cloning has been around for some time now. Not only in the scientific field, but cloning has also been a reaccuring theme in many books and movies throughout time. Before any of us even heard about the story of Dolly, before we even read a single article on the subject, the media had already had us trained on the ethics of cloning. The way cloning has been represented over time through books and movies, and the way the media has presented it since Dolly, has shaped the way the American masses currently view cloning. Unfortunately, the media has often gotten its own facts wrong, leading to public and political confusion on the subject resulting in a controversial moratorium on all forms of cloning. When the clone of Dolly was announced, people quickly learned that cloning was a reality and not just part of the movies any more, and the media was right there to tell them what to expect. .
The actual process of cloning cells is called "nuclear transplantation" and has been around since 1952. According to Stein, "The procedure of nuclear transplantation was developed by Robert Briggs and Thomas J. King in Philadelphia First tested in amphibians, then the procedure was soon extended to insects and fishes and, in the 1980s, to mammals" (58). Simply explained, the nuclear transplantation process involves taking a donor egg cell and removing the nucleus (removing all DNA). Then a mammary cell, one which has all the DNA needed to make another being, is taken from the subject that is too be cloned. Then the cell is fused with the egg cell with a jolt of electric current. The cells begin to multiply into generic stems cells (cells that are not specified and can become any body part). This is where "therapeutic cloning" ends. This source of generic stems cells is then used for making transplant tissues that could be used to save lives of people suffering with spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Heart Disease, just to name a few.
