Cloning FAQs

Back to the text

1.)Is cloning "unnatural"?

  • bacteria/yeasts/snails/shrimps clone themselves (since 30 million years)

2.) Could clones be "farmed" to provide spare body parts for their "parent" clone without problems of tissue rejection?

  • rejection can't be entirely excluded
  • clone must be willing to donate
  • transplanting a pig's heart is less dangerous

3.) Could people be cloned without conscious brains (so their body parts could be harvested with fewer moral qualms)?

  • no clear definition of conscience
  • one's genes don't contain information concerning conscience

4.) Could vital organs be grown using cloning without the rest of a body?

  • in future it may become possible
  • Dolly - first success in cloning mammals from adult cells

5.) Could cloning be used to create "super warriors" or super-intelligent people?

  • theoratically it is possible (mixture of animal and human genes)
  • ethical concerns hinder a further development on this sector

6.) Could cloning be used to save endangered species?

  • possible, but success rate very low (Dolly: 1 to 276)
  • probably females can give birth to close-related species (untested yet)

7.) Could cloning help gay couples to conceive and make men unneccessary for procreation?

  • it would be possible to create a twin of one partner
  • difficult to create a mixture of both partners' genes

8.) What about a Manhattan Project for human cloning?

  • no federal Manhattan Project for cloning
  • International Institute on Cloning (IIC) started research projects in different fields (pharmacy, reproducing DNA and tissues, cloning human beings)