Human Cloning

Human reproductive cloning – producing a genetic copy of an existing person using somatic cell nuclear transfer – has never been done. Many scientists believe that it can never be safe. In opinion polls, , overwhelming majorities consistently reject its use. The U.S. has no federal law on human reproductive cloning, but several states, dozens of countries, and international agreements prohibit it.

Research cloning – producing cloned human embryos from which to derive embryonic stem cells (theoretically for customized medical treatment or research) – has been supplanted by techniques to derive pluripotent stem cells from somatic cells. Concerns raised by research cloning include its reliance on large numbers of women’s eggs (involving risks that are understudied and often downplayed), unrealistic claims about “personalized” therapies, and the need for effective oversight to prevent rogue use of cloned embryos for reproductive human cloning.

Scientists successfully clone monkeys; are humans up next?

By Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 01.24.2018

Aggregated News

For the first time, researchers have used the cloning technique that produced Dolly the sheep to create healthy monkeys, bringing science an important step closer to being able to do the same with humans.

Since Dolly’s birth in 1996, scientists...

Animal Biotechnologies

Born This Week: Dolly the Sheep

By Pete Shanks | 07.03.2019

Biopolitical Times

A Star is Born

On July 5, 1996, the most famous individual sheep in history was born: Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

Scientists had cloned frogs previously, but many considered using an adult mammalian cell to produce a new creature with the same genome to be impossible. There was no public notice on the day of Dolly’s birth; the announcement was made on February 24, 1997, by Ian Wilmut and colleagues at the Roslin Institute, Scotland...

Animal Biotechnologies