Cloning Controversies: An overview of the science, ethics and politics

Abstract

Man's quest for knowledge is boundless. It is because of this quest and his untiring efforts to acquire it, that we have made such tremendous breakthroughs in the fields of science and medicine. Vaccines for hitherto incurable diseases, genetic engineering, and the correction of congenital and hereditary diseases are a few of these. With the successful cloning of `Dolly', `Molly' and `Polly' we are now standing at the threshold of another major breakthrough – human cloning. However, are we ethically, morally and politically mature enough to `go all the way' in a purely scientific manner, for the benefit of the human kind? A review of the scientific, ethical and political events in this field may be pertinent in trying to answer this important question.