There are several issues that are brought up by cloning. The logical conclusion to most research done with cloning is the question of cloning people. Cloning of people is currently illegal in the United States and many other countries. There are two main applications of cloning that bring up serious legal and ethical questions.
In order for cells to become whole organisms, they must divide and differentiate. Cells divide all the time. That means that just one cell, a fertilized egg, is able to become the trillions of cells that make up your body, just by dividing. Those trillions of cells are not all the same though.
We just learned that a clone is someone who shares your DNA, like identical twins. What's the big deal then? If we have clones running around, going to school, playing with other kids like you, why is cloning making the evening news? Cloning is such a big deal because of two reasons. Reason number one is that we can do it outside of the mother. Reason number two is that we can put DNA from wherever we want to take it from and put it into another cell.
What is cloning and do we have clones living among us today? The answers might surprise you or maybe we should say ewe.
