The word "cloning" conjures up images of amazing scientific proportions. Man gaining the ability to recreate another being, that they originally held no responsibility for, is both exciting and terrifying. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein presents a fictional, yet thought provoking, view at scientific achievements similar to cloning; one in which the scientist succeeds, but then is terribly plagued by his creation. As Shelley shows in Frankenstein, man is capable of creation, but does not have the threshold for the massive amount of responsibility that comes along with it. While the science of cloning has several benefits, they are outweighed by the many consequences (both scientific and ethical) that would negatively effect our world. Mankind does not posses the level of responsibility necessary to deal with the results of reproductive cloning.
By biological definition cloning is the process of producing populations of genetically-identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. The biotechnological definition of cloning refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments (molecular cloning), cells (cell cloning), or organisms (Wikipedia).
Certain types of cloning such as molecular and cellular cloning have proved to be beneficial in many aspects. Including, medical advancements like stem cell research to help prevent certain types of diseases. When controlled properly, these types of cloning are helpful tools that deserve further research.
Reproductive cloning is a technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal (human genome project info). This type of cloning works by using "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (SCNT) to create animals that are genetically identical. This process entails the transfer of a nucleus from a donor adult cell (somatic cell) to an egg which has no nucleus. If the egg begins to...