Scientists at the Oregon Health and Science University said that they had produced embryonic stem cells from a cloned human embryo, accomplishing in humans what has been done over the past 15 years in sheep, mice, cattle and several other species. The scientists slipped an adult skin cell into a human egg whose DNA had been removed. After several innovations that allowed them to succeed where other scientists had failed for 15 years, they got the egg to divide and reproduce much like a fertilized egg, even though no sperm had gone near it. But critics have warned that the new technique might be used to create babies, although the Oregon team said the opposite. Let us know your thoughts, and follow the discussion on Inside Story, at 1730 and 0730 GMT.
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not refer to monozygotic multiple births or the reproduction of humans/animals cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning; human clones in the form of identical twins are commonplace, with their cloning occurring during the natural process of reproduction.
There are two commonly discussed types of human cloning: therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning involves cloning cells from an adult for use in medicine and transplants, and is an active area of research. Reproductive cloning would involve making cloned humans, for couples wanting to have a child, but cannot naturally.
A third type of cloning called replacement cloning is a theoretical possibility, and would be a combination of therapeutic and reproductive cloning. Replacement cloning would entail the replacement of an extensively damaged, failed, or failing body through cloning followed by whole or partial brain transplant or harvesting the internal organs of the clone.[citation needed]
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