To Clone or Not to Clone

Critics of cloning repeat the question often associated with controversial science: "Just because we can, does it mean we should?" The closer we come to being able to clone a human, the hotter the debate over it grows. For all the good things cloning may accomplish, opponents say that it will do just as much harm. Another question is how to regulate cloning procedures.

There is no federal law banning cloning in the United States, but several states have passed their own laws to ban the practice. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also said that anyone in the United States attempting human cloning must first get its permission. In Japan, human cloning is a crime that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. England has allowed cloning human embryos but is working to pass legislation to stop total human cloning.

While laws are one deterrent to pursuing human cloning at this time, some scientists believe the technology is not ready to be tested on humans. Ian Wilmut, one of co-creators of Dolly, has even said that human cloning projects would be criminally irresponsible. Cloning technology is still in its early stages, and nearly 98 percent of cloning efforts end in failure. The embryos are either not suitable for implanting into the uterus or they die sometime during gestation or shortly after birth.

Those clones that do survive suffer from genetic abnormalities. Some clones have been born with defective hearts, lung problems, diabetes, blood vessel problems and malfunctioning immune systems. One of the more famous cases was a cloned sheep that was born but suffered from chronic hyperventilation caused by malformed arteries leading to the lungs.

Opponents of cloning point out that while we can euthanize the defective clones of other animals, it's much more morally problematic if this happens during the human cloning process. Advocates of cloning respond that it is now easier to pick out defective embryos before they are implanted into the mother. The debate over human cloning is just beginning, but as science advances, it could be the biggest ethical dilemma of the 21st century.