• Question: is is possible to make a clone of me?

    Asked by saadialouise to Chris, Eva, Michael, Paddy, Philip on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Philip Denniff

      Philip Denniff answered on 11 Jun 2011:

      Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996 in Scotland so why not Saadialouise the human. However there are laws governing the cloning of humans

    • Photo: Paddy Brock

      Paddy Brock answered on 12 Jun 2011:

      In theory, yes, but as Phil rightly says, it would be illegal in most countries because the majority of people think it would be bad idea to use cloning technology for reproductive purposes (i.e. to produce copies of people). They are ways in which the cloning of cells can be used in medicine (therapeutic cloning). One of the main reasons the subject of cloning is so controversial is that there are a lot of things that we don’t fully understand about the process. For example, Dolly the sheep, the most famous (and one of the first) cloned animals, had a short life and suffered from a degenerative illness. Have a look at: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/dolly/

    • Photo: Chris Jordan

      Chris Jordan answered on 12 Jun 2011:

      Probably – but it’s illegal, and there are lots of good reasons (scientific and social) for that.

    • Photo: Eva Bachmair

      Eva Bachmair answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Probably, cells make kind of clones from themselves when they do mitosis (production of two identical cells); so that might also work for a whole organism. But, as the others said, it is illegal.

    • Photo: Michael Wharmby

      Michael Wharmby answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I’m not a biologist so I will have to defer to Eva/Paddy. I don’t think I would want a clone of me though, but that’s more a philosophical point!

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