What is Human Cloning

The debate about whether cloning human beings is good or bad is one that we read about in the newspapers almost on a daily basis, but what is the fuss about? What is human cloning? The process of human cloning comprises creating a copy of a human being that is genetically identical to him by the means of asexual reproduction. In the history of human cloning till date there has been no confirmed report of creation of a human clone but there have been many attempts. The successful cloning of a sheep that resulted in the birth of Dolly, the sheep seemed to pave the way for human cloning but many people raised ethical issues which led to the five year moratorium that was put on funding for human cloning.

In 2001, a group of scientists led by Dr. Panayiotis Zavos claimed that they had successfully managed to create a clone and had transferred the cloned embryo into the womb of a woman. But the attempt failed as the woman failed to become pregnant. In 2004 a scientist from South Korea, Hwang Woo-suk announced that along with his research team he had managed to clone human embryos. But this claim was found to be false by a review panel. Attempts at human cloning have been shadowed by protests from not only religious groups who believe that procreation is not an activity human beings should interfere with but also scientists. Most opposing scientific groups believe that unless the results of animal cloning are not satisfactory, it is too risky to indulge in the human cloning process.

The Concept of Human Cloning?

As mentioned earlier, in simple terms human cloning is the creation of a copy of a human being by asexual means. There are different methods of cloning. The first one is reproductive cloning which is the method that was used to create the Dolly. In this method, first one needs to isolate a cell from the donor who has to be cloned. After that the nucleus of the cell needs to be isolated. Once this done, the nucleus has to be injected into an egg from which the nucleus has been removed. Once this process is successfully completed the egg is subjected to either chemical or electrical treatments. This is done in order to integrate the nucleus from the donor cell with the egg and to cause cell division. This should result in the creation of a zygote which is implanted in a surrogate by the method of in vitro fertilization.

The second method that is used for cloning and which you should know about if you want to learn what is cloning is therapeutic cloning. This type of cloning is used to create stem cells from the embryo that has been developed. These stem cells can be used to create organs like the skin, liver, and heart. This method of cloning is helpful in case you are trying to replace organs that have stopped working. This type of cloning can work wonders in cases where a person is suffering from a degenerative disease like Alzheimer's. There is no chance of a person's body rejecting the transplant as the organ would be recreated from his own genetic material.

Human Cloning Pros and Cons

The reason there is such debate about creating human clones is because of the many pros and cons of cloning. The process of cloning has its set of benefits and drawbacks that we will look at now so that you get a complete understanding of human cloning.

There are a number of human cloning benefits. Like mentioned earlier in the article, it can help greatly in treating degenerative diseases and in replacing defunct organs. Further research on human cloning can help create limbs which can be a blessing for people who have undergone amputations. Another benefit of human cloning is that it can help by replacing defective genes. This can be used as a preventive technique. Human cloning is also a great way of cosmetic treatment. One of the biggest benefits of human cloning is that it can be a boon to infertile couples who cannot have kids.

If you are wondering why human cloning is wrong, there are a number of reasons. The fact remains that even after years of experimentation and research, cloning technology is still in its very nascent stage. The success rate with even animal cloning is very low. Again many of the animals that have been clones have shown to be prone to diseases and infections. Also many of them died very young. Cloning animals is a very expensive procedure. Take the example of Dolly where almost 277 eggs were cloned out of which only 30 divided, 9 resulted in pregnancy, and 1 survived the gestation period. The many failed attempts at human cloning causes serious doubts about whether or not human cloning is possible.

Now that you know what human cloning is, you can take an informed decision about whether or not human cloning is beneficial. There are many religious and ethical protests against human cloning. One of the many facts is that in no way is a human clone an exact copy of the donor since it does not share mitochondrial DNA, nor does a clone have biological parents. Human cloning is banned in many countries but with continuing research, it may soon have some major breakthroughs.