Cloning
Should our democracy permit the therapeutic cloning of human cells?
In 1996, scientists in Scotland created Dolly, a sheep who was an identical genetic copy of her mother. Since that time, scientists in other parts of the world have produced genetic duplicates of such animals as a cow, a mouse, a cat, a dog, a horse, a pig, and even a ferret. This process, called cloning, has led to increased interest and concern by governments and ordinary persons. Officials and citizens around the world are discussing the uses of human cells in medical research and the prospect of reproducing people through cloning.
Lessons
- English
- Lietuviskai (Lithuanian)
- Македонски (Macedonian)
- Na Russkom Yizake (Russian)
- Romana (Romanian)
- Shqip (Albanian)
Resources
Articles and Papers
- “Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings” (Paris: Council of Europe, opened January 12, 1998, entered into force January 3, 2001)
- “Ad Hoc Committee on an International Convention Against the Reproductive Cloning of Human Beings” (New York: United Nations)
- Beardsley, Tim, “A Clone in Sheep’s Clothing,” Scientific American (March 3, 1997)
- “Cloning Fact Sheet,” Human Genome Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy
- Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP), Board on Life Sciences (BLS), “Executive Summary,” Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning (Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 2002).
- United Nations “General Assembly Resolution 56/93, International Convention Against the Reproductive Cloning of Human Beings” Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry (Washington, DC: President's Council on Bioethics, July 2002)
- “S Korea Cloning Research Was Fake,” BBC News (December 23, 2005)
Activities and Websites
- “Click and Clone,” Genetic Science Learning Center, University of Utah
- "Bloggingheads: Stem-Cell Semantics" The New York Times Online (December 2007)
Audio Articles
- “Debate on Therapeutic Cloning” National Public Radio (May 17, 1002)
- “Embryonic Stem Cells Made Without Embryos” National Public Radio (November 21, 2007)
