There are two major types of cloning: 1. Reproductive cloning 2. Therapeutic cloning Reproductive cloning: creating a plant, animal, or person asexually. They are genetically identical with a donor plant, animal, or person.

 Dolly was created in a process called “Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer”  Scientists transfer genetic material from a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus has been removed;  The reconstructed egg which contains the DNA must be treated with chemicals in order to stimulate cell division.

Then it is transferred to the uterus of a female host where it develops until birth; Dolly is not an identical clone, only the clones nuclear DNA is the same as the donor; Dolly’s success is truly remarkable because it is proved that the genetic material from the specialized adult cell can be re-programmed to generate an entire new organism.

 More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring;  Cloned animals tend to have higher rates of infection tumor growth, and other disorders;  Clones have been known to die mysteriously.

 Producing a person through cloning lacks the intimate connection to marriage;  Artificial Insemination separates the link between sexual intimacy and procreation;  Act of procreation becomes an act of production.

RC creates “mini mes” – not unique, irreplaceable people; Selection of gender – regarding gender as a disease; Production of designer babies – like race horses; A person acts like a God – having control over everything that happens to the child; Turning a child into means of someone else’s satisfaction.

Enucleation The recipient oocyte is held by a glass pipette (left side of each frame), while a glass needle is used to remove the genetic material in the process of enucleation. Cell Transfer A cell containing the genetic material from the donor is placed inside the Zona Pellucida. An electrical pulse is then applied across the two cells, causing their membranes to fuse into one complete cell.

 Also known as “embryo cloning,” it is the production of a human embryo for the use in research.  The goal of this is not to create cloned humans, but to harvest stem cells that can be used to study and treat disease.  Embryo is grown for 14 days; then stem cells are extracted to grow into a piece of human tissue or organ for transplant.

Stems cells are important because they can be used to generate any type of specialized cell in the body. Many researchers hope that one day stem cells can be used to serve as replacement cells to treat: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, blindness, Parkinson’s disease, Down syndrome, lymphoma, stroke.

Is Stem Cell research moral? Is an embryo a human person? - Does human being come into existence during therapeutic cloning? - The process of extracting stem cells from the embryo involves killing a person; - A human life is created but deliberately prevented from reaching its full potential.

John Paul II In his 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II wrote: "Human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings and are subjects with rights; their dignity and right to life must be respected from the first moment of their existence. It is immoral to produce human embryos destined to be exploited as disposable 'biological material'" (1,5).

"While much good may come from the proposed research, we must not lose sight of the fact that the means used to reach that good end must also be moral. The end does not justify the means. In this case, curing even thousands of persons does not justify the destruction of others, even though they are still in the embryonic state of development."

Time magazine – Feb 2004 Time magazine – Feb