-
Asked by to Anna, Iain, Nick on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
-
Nick Goldman answered on 20 Mar 2014:
Scientifically, I think it would be a bit dangerous. The success rate of cloning mammals is not that high, so a lot of fertilized eggs do not develop. And I know that some cloned animals have died younger than expected, so it’s not a technology we have working completely properly.
It’s also important to realise that you wouldn’t get an exact replicate of the person you cloned. We are much more than just our genomes; our environment and our experiences make a huge difference. The person you cloned might look the same, but they would have their own character, their own thoughts, and so on.
-
-
Anna Middleton answered on 20 Mar 2014:
Cloning people is illegal in many countries. In addition to the concerns about safety mentioned by Nick and also the fact that you could never create an identical version, there are all sorts of ethical issues. What about the motivations of the people who decided they wanted to create the clone? what would the clone be used for (e.g. spare body parts for the original?) The process may not be successful and the cloned person may have all sorts of things wrong with them, that’s a great risk to take with a person’s life, that’ why it is illegal.
Comments