Cloning Cloning refers to the process of copying biological material. This can involve replicating DNA or cells, as well as higher life forms like animals and humans. The key ethical question is whether, and to what extent, humanity should intervene in a basically random reproductive process to achieve a more predictable genetic result. People have been cloning plants for a very long time. Clones are also produced in agricultural and botanical research.
Animal cloning is a common practice.
Top livestock are cloned using techniques that can split a single embryo to produce twins. When nuclear transfer technology, or The Dolly Technique, was unveiled in 1997, it raised a new and very different set of ethical issues. Nuclear transfer cloning can achieve this goal 26 months faster than using older techniques. The shorter development time would mean that patients would benefit from earlier access to the treatment. However, dangers exist.