Question: is human cloning possible

Renata Medeiros answered on 27 Jun 2013:

Human cloning is defined as the creation of two (or more) genetically identical human beings. One form of human cloning actually occurs naturally, because identical twins are genetically identical! However, artificial human cloning is also possible, through recent developments in biological technology. There are two major types of artificial human cloning…

“Therapeutic cloning” is the creation of cloned cells or tissues for medical purposes, and this is already carried out using human tissues to aid in medical research and to treat some diseases. For example, cloned human stem cells are being used in highly experimental treatments for Parkinson’s disease.

“Reproductive cloning” of a human would involve the creation of a whole cloned human being, and this has not yet been carried out, even though the technology to clone whole mammals already exists. The very first cloned mammal was a sheep called “Dolly”, who was cloned in 1996. The major reason that whole humans have not been cloned is because people are not sure whether this would be a good thing. It is a very interesting moral and philosophical question to think about -what would it be like if there was a genetically identical copy of you in the world? Would it make any difference to your life? Would it make a difference to the life of the cloned person? If you died, would you still live on in the body of the clone?

Because of these moral uncertainties, human reproductive cloning is banned, and even therapeutic cloning is very strictly regulated.