• Question: Is it possible to clone humans? Also would would the clone be stuck in that one state?

    Asked by bubbles123 to Meeks, Pete, Stephen, Steve, Tom on 20 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Tom Hartley

      Tom Hartley answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      I think it is probably going to be possible to clone humans soon (and it already happens naturally – identical twins are natural clones of one another). Unless special steps were taken to prevent it, I would expect a clone to be able to have children just like anyone else, and so in that sense they wouldn’t be stuck in one state. During their lifetime they would grow and age just like anyone else (maybe ageing would be slightly different if the genes came from an adult cell – I seem to remember some discussion of this with Dolly the sheep) but basically if the cloning worked properly they would be healthy and just like anyone else. I don’t know if it will happen because there would be some serious ethical issues, but it would depend a bit on how and why the clone was created. In my view it should only be done if it benefits the clone him/herself (at least in the sense that a child benefits from being born). Nobody should be “created” just to help someone else deal with their problems.

    • Photo: Marieke Navin

      Marieke Navin answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      I think it is possible in principle – we can clone sheep, monkeys, mice, cats, dogs etc i’m sure we can do it for humans, but the implications are of course massive and it is anyway against the law. The clone wouldn’t be stuck in a state though i don’t think – they’d be a normal human being – just like you!

    • Photo: Stephen Curry

      Stephen Curry answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Hi bubble123,

      A good but tricky question.

      it’s been done for many other mammals already (sheep, cows, dogs) so it is very likely to be possible. It just not considered to be ethical yet, probably for 2 reasons. One is that it is still very difficult to do – there is a high incidence of failure and I think clones may not live as long as normal. The other is dealing with the question of who the clone would be and how that would affect the original. Personally I wouldn’t fancy being cloned.

    • Photo: Pete Edwards

      Pete Edwards answered on 20 Jun 2010:

      This is a question for a biologist and certainly not one that I can answer 😉

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