On February 23, 1997, Ian Wilmut, a Scottish scientist, and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute announced the successful cloning of a sheep from a cell from the body of another sheep - without the aid of sexual reproduction. Dolly, the sheep produced, is "the creation of a new individual genetically identical to an existing mammal - a 'delayed' genetic twin." This process was simply an extension of research in genetics that has been flourishing for several decades. For the past ten years, scientists have methodically cloned sheep and cows from embryo cells, but the cloning procedure used to generate Dolly was quite unique.

The technique used to produce this novel sheep involved the use of a single somatic cell. The cloning of Dolly was the first successful experiment using the nucleus of a somatic cell from an adult animal to clone an animal that matured to a fully d

Republican Senators Bill Frist and Kit Bond proposed a bill that permits only certain aspects of cloning research, including gene therapy, cloning of DNA molecules, cloning of body cells and, tissues, and cloning of plants and animals. This bill outlaws research of any type on cloned human embryos, mentioning that "the destruction of such embryos during the research process would be unethical and a waste of potential life" Many scientists have lobbied against this bill since it halts all future stem cell research for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Scientists believe that the basis for research of these diseases lies within the cloning of human embryo cells.

Currently, human cloning is illegal in England and a few other countries, but it is not totally illegal in the United States. In the United States, federal, but not private, funds are prohibited from being used to create human embryos or do research on human embryos if they will be harmed or destroyed. In 1997, President Clinton imposed a five year moratorium on human cloning research, banning federal funds from being used for human cloning research, stating that, "Any discovery that touches upon human creation is not simply a matter of scientific inquiry, it is a matter of morality and spirituality as well... Each human life is unique, born of a miracle that reaches beyond laboratory science..."

and important social changes and new issues concerning this power, and who controls it.

Other segments of the population argue in favor of continuing human cloning research, and perhaps cloning adult humans in the future. Some arguments in favor of human cloning include the fact that cloned human embryos would make research into genetics and genetically related diseases, and their treatments or prevention, much easier and cheaper. Cloned embryonic tissues might also be used for the replacement of lost or diseased tissues.

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Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)