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Two Types of Cloning

Reproductive Cloning

Cloning via somatic cell nuclear transfer can also be used to reproductively clone a person by allowing the germinal stage embryo to gestate to full-term. The resulting life is a genetic copy of the DNA donor - a delayed identical twin rather than off-spring. This cloning method was pioneered by researchers at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, UK. These scientists cloned the first mammal, a sheep called Dolly. But this method is of little use to the longevity and continuity of an individual self because it only creates a copy of a person's body, not the mental history of an individual self.

However, aside from reproductive cloning, stem-cell research is generally useful for the purposes of longevity and is used in a variety of medical practices, including the healing of spinal-injuries and paralysis, burns, eye-problems, heart defects, and cancer treatments. But because these stem-cell replacements are from donors rather than DNA clones, complications like cancer or rejection can occur.

Therapeutic Cloning

Recently however, Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University, South Korea, has developed an improved technique for therapeutically cloning blastocysts to harvest totipotent stem-cells for patients with various diseases and injuries. Unlike the riskier business of matching foreign stem-cells with a patient's tissues, these stem-cells exactly match a patient's DNA because they come from the patient (autotransplantation). If grown to replace injured or diseased organs, tissues or bone, the cloned replacements should be accepted by the patient's immune system without the serious complications and continued medications that usually accompany organ transplantation, skin-grafting, and other forms of replacement surgery. Progress in this area of science could mean that eventually any part of the body will be replaceable, making prosthetics obsolete and allowing people to recover from many diseases and injuries. This continual renewal of areas of the body should postpone death - perhaps indefinitely.

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