 Cloning is creating a plant, animal, or person asexually. They is genetically identical with a donor plant, animal, or person.  There are two major types of cloning: 1. Reproductive cloning  Therapeutic cloning

 Dolly was created in a process called “Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer”  Scientists transfer genetic material from a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus has been removed  The reconstructed egg which contains the DNA must be treated with chemicals in order to stimulate cell division

Reproductive Cloning - Dolly Then it is transferred to the uterus of a female host where it develops until birth Dolly is not an identical clone, only the clones nuclear DNA is the same as the donor Dolly’s success is truly remarkable because it is proved that the genetic material from the specialized adult cell can be re-programmed to generate an entire new organism

Enucleation The recipient oocyte is held by a glass pipette (left side of each frame), while a glass needle is used to remove the genetic material in the process of enucleation. Cell Transfer A cell containing the genetic material from the donor is placed inside the Zona Pellucida. An electrical pulse is then applied across the two cells, causing their membranes to fuse into one complete cell.

 Also known as “embryo cloning,” it is the production of a human embryo for the use in research  The goal of this is not to create cloned humans, but to harvest stem cells that can be used to study and treat disease.  Stems cells are important because they can be used to generate any type of specialized cell in the body.

Therapeutic Cloning Many researchers hope that one day stem cells can be used to serve as replacement cells to treat heart disease, cancer and other disease. The Advanced Cell Technologies (ACT) announced they cloned the first human embryos. They collected eggs from women’s ovaries, removed the genetic material and inserted a skin cell inside the Enucleated egg to serve as a new nucleus.

 Reproductive cloning can be used to repopulate endangered animals.  Cloning extinct animals is a much greater challenge to science because the egg and the surrogate needed to create the cloned embryo would be a species in its own.  Therapeutic cloning may be used to produced whole organs from single cells.

 Scientists hope that one day therapeutic cloning can be used to generate tissues and organs for transplants.  Stem cells would generate an organ or tissue that is a genetic match to the recipient, as a result organ donation would reduce significantly.  Many challenges must be overcome before cloned organ transplants can be created.

 More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring  Cloned animals tend to have higher rates of infection tumor growth, and other disorders.  Clones have been known to die mysteriously.

Risks of Cloning A process called “Imprinting”, chemically marks the DNA from the mother and the father so that only one copy of a gene is turned on. Any defect on the genetic imprint may lead to some abnormalities of cloned embryos

 Because of the lack of understanding about reproductive cloning scientists believe it is unethical to attempt to clone humans.  About 30% of clones born alive are affected with “large offspring syndrome”

Should Humans be Cloned? Several cloned animals have died prematurely from infections or other complications, the same problems would be expected in human cloning The attempt to clone humans at this time is considered potentially dangerous, and ethically irresponsible.

 Producing a person through cloning lacks the intimate connection to marriage.  The nature of cloning is an affront to the dignity and rights of a child.  Artificial Insemination separates the link between sexual intimacy and procreation.

Is Cloning or Stem Cell research moral? The Catholic Church's objection is to creating and using life for research In either case, a human life is created but deliberately prevented from reaching its full potential.

John Paul II In his 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II wrote: "Human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings and are subjects with rights; their dignity and right to life must be respected from the first moment of their existence. It is immoral to produce human embryos destined to be exploited as disposable 'biological material'" (1,5).

"While much good may come from the proposed research, we must not lose sight of the fact that the means used to reach that good end must also be moral. The end does not justify the means. In this case, curing even thousands of persons does not justify the destruction of others, even though they are still in the embryonic state of development."

Time magazine – Feb 2004 Time magazine – Feb Ideas by Madeline Luciano