Question: Will cloning become a standard medical Procedure .

Melissa Brereton answered on 10 Mar 2013:

Cloning is such a big subject that is always getting lots of attention in the media.

Scientists perform cloning on a daily basis during their research when they want to grow cells in the lab or introduce certain changes to its DNA. Cloning is also used to make genetically modified mouse models of human diseases such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure- these are useful in trying to understand what goes wrong in these diseases and can be used to help treat them.

But when many people think of cloning they imagine “dolly the sheep” who was the first animal to be cloned (replicated) from her mother. A cell was taken from the udder of a sheep and grown in a dish and then inserted into another female sheep where it grew from an embryo (egg) into a lamb which had exactly the same DNA as its mother!

Cloning is also associated with designer babies where many people think that one day we will be able to choose the sex, hair colour, eye colour and IQ of a baby. I don’t think that this will ever happen as it is not ethical and also not something that scientists would want to be part of!

I think that cloning may one day be used to make new organs and cells for people where their own have failed due to old age or disease. Surely that can only be thought of as a good thing?