Human copies.

• Author: Zack, Ian
• Position: Q/A

Clonaid, a company founded by a sect that believes space aliens created life on Earth, recently announced it had cloned two humans. Scientists were skeptical, but the claim heightened concern about such efforts. Upfront spoke to Ronald Green, an ethicist at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, about human cloning.

Why is cloning a human different from cloning an animal, such as a sheep?

There's almost a universal agreement that you can't impose great risks on a human being in an experimental context, certainly not without their consent. You're imposing risks on an unborn child in this case, so it's extremely questionable from an ethical point of view.

Are there dilemmas in raising a clone?

There are questions of too much identity between parent and child. Will the child be expected to be like the DNA donor, in ways that distort the child's life...