GENES & CLONING

It has been a few years since the first set of programs in The DNA Files radio series. In that time, we've gone from Dolly the cloned sheep to Mini-Me, the cloned villain of Austin Powers' universe, and beyond.

Now some entrepreneurs are claiming they can clone human beings; others talk about cloning human organs for transplant. Scientists, corporations and nations are puzzling over which cloning experiments should be encouraged, and which should be banned.

Click through this category to find out what cloning can - and can't - mean for people.

If you're interested in the resources in this section, you might also want to check out these categories: Genes & Medicine, Genes & Stem Cells and The DNA Marketplace.

Last updated: March 3, 2005

Radio Programs

• Genetics of Aging & Longevity - Search for the Fountain of Youth (first distributed in November 2001)
  
  
• Genetic Medicine - Prescription for Conflict (first distributed in November 2001)

• Yahoo! Science Full Coverage: Cloning. Yahoo!
  
  Keep up on the latest cloning and stem cell research, with stories from news organizations around the world, and good links to related info.
  
  
• New Scientist Hot Topic: Cloning & Stem Cells
  
  A frequently updated collection of New Scientist articles.
  
  
• Cloning Fact Sheet
  
  From the Human Genome Project, answers to the most common questions about cloning.
  
  
• Dr. Arthur Caplan: The Ethics of Human Cloning. CNN.com, August 7, 2001
  
  This interview covers the basics of the ethics of human cloning. Scroll down to the "Resources" section on the right margin, and click on the animation of "The Cloning Process." The long loading time is worth the wait to see this biotech process clearly explained.
  
  

• Use of Cloning Technology to Clone a Human Being. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  
  The government's response to human cloning continues to evolve. This page gives a history of the regulation of human cloning in the United States, including links to key documents.

• Information on Cloning and Nuclear Transfer. Roslin Institute
  
  From the home of Dolly, the world's most famous sheep, you can access information on the nuclear transfer process that made her possible. In February 2005, Dolly's creator, Roslin scientist Ian Wilmut, was granted a license by the British government to clone human embryos for stem cell research.
  
  
• Cloning in Humans - Can it be done? BBC News, March 9, 2001
  
  This short article covers some basic questions about the feasibility of human cloning. Check out the links at the bottom of the page.
  
  
• Clonaid
  
  Clonaid, which is tied to the Raelian religion, claims to be the first human cloning company. The Raelians believe that scientists from another planet created all life on earth using DNA.
  
  
• Humancloning.org
  
  The self-proclaimed "official site in support of cloning humans" includes information from Dr. Richard Seed, who made headlines in 1997 saying he would produce human clones, regardless of any restrictive laws.
  
  
• The First Human Cloned Embryo. Scientific American, November 24, 2001
  
  Cloned early-stage human embryos — and human embryos generated only from eggs, in a process called parthenogenesis — now put therapeutic cloning within reach.
  
  
• Clone your cat! Commercial Service Launched
  
  Genetic Savings & Clone, a California company, offers pet cloning for a hefty fee. Includes a cloning timeline going back to 5000 BC.

• Bioethics.net: Cloning. American Journal of Bioethics Online
  
  In this special section of the American Journal of Bioethics Online, you can find elegant summaries of the ethical, technological, and regulatory issues surrounding cloning. The site includes frequently updated news, and audio and video of debates, press conferences, and testimony.
  
  
• I, Clone. Scientific American, September 1999
  
  Sometime, somewhere, someone will generate a cloned human being. What then?
  
  See also this essay on the subject, from the March 2003 issue.
  
  
• Send in the clones: Attorney Mark D. Eibert fights for the right to be cloned. Garry Abrams and Martin Lasden. California Lawyer, January 2001, p. 15-16
  
  
• Human cloning: All types, aspects and points of view. ReligiousTolerance.org
  
  ReligiousTolerance.org prepared this clear, brief introduction to the science, history and controversies surrounding cloning.
  
  
• American Bioethics Advisory Commission
  
  The ABAC, a private anti-abortion group, has a name easily confused with the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, an organization created by the federal government. The ABAC urges caution in rushing towards new medical technologies that rely on potentially reproductive human tissue.
  
  
• Council for Responsible Genetics
  
  The CRG site includes position papers, congressional testimony, and other documents by prominent scientists or scholars setting forth politically progressive positions promoting restrictions or caution regarding cloning research. See listings under "Cloning" on their website.
  
  
• Human Germline Manipulation and Cloning as Women's Issues. Genewatch, July 2001
  
  For a feminist perspective see this paper by Marcy Darnovsky.

• The Clone Age: Adventures in the New World of Reproductive Technology by Lori B. Andrews. Henry Holt, 1999
  
  Andrews is an attorney specializing in the legal and ethical aspects of genetic and reproductive technology.
  
  
• Body Bazaar: The Market for Human Tissue in the Biotechnology Age by Lori B. Andrews and Dorothy Nelkin. Crown, 2001
  
  This book presents a strong case against business interests in this aspect of biomedicine and technology, by two key players in the debate, a bioethicist and a professor of law.
  
  
• Clone: The Road to Dolly, and the Path Ahead by Gina Bari Kolata. William Morrow & Company, 1998
  
  A science journalist for The New York Times writes a lively book about covering the story of Dolly the cloned lamb.
  
  
• Clones and Clones: Facts and Fantasies about Human Cloning edited by Martha C. Nussbaum and Cass R. Sunstein. 1st ed. New York: Norton, 1998
  
  This set of essays on the implications of human cloning includes Ian Wilmut's original research paper announcing the creation of Dolly the cloned sheep, and discussions of the ethical issues, as well as four fictional excursions.
  
  
• The Ethics of Human Cloning by Leon R. Kass and James Q. Wilson. AEI Press, 1998
  
  Human cloning is the topic of this debate between two respected ethicists.
  
  
• Flesh of My Flesh: The Ethics of Cloning Humans, A Reader by Gregory E. Pence (ed.). Rowman & Littlefield, 1998
  
  
• Human Cloning: Religious Responses by Ronald Cole-Turner (ed.). Westminster John Knox Press, 1997
  
  
• Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World by Lee M. Silver. Avon Books, 1997
  
  Lee Silver, biologist and ethicist, explains why traditional ethical arguments will not apply to newly emerging reproductive technologies.
  
  
• Who's Afraid of Human Cloning? by Gregory Pence. Rowman & Littlefield, 1998
  
  Gregory Pence, medical ethicist and professor of philosophy, begs to differ with the ethicists who are horrified by the idea of human cloning.
  
  
• Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future by Gregory Stock. Houghton Mifflin, 2002
  
  Gregory Stock, director of the UCLA School of Medicine's Program on Medicine, Technology and Society puts a positive spin on the possibilities of genetic engineering on human health and happiness.
  
  
• Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution by Francis Fukuyama. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002
  
  Fukuyama, author of the influential book, The End of History, and member of the White House Council on Bioethics suggests that genetic manipulation will ultimately change what it means to be human.
  
  
• Yes to Human Cloning: Eternal Life Thanks to Science by Rael
  
  The author, the founder of a group dedicated to the belief that scientists from another planet created all life on earth using DNA.