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There are two types of cloning—therapeutic and reproductive—with each one having its own group of supporters and anti-cloners behind it. There are fifteen states having laws which pertain to both types of cloning, with the very first law effective 1997 in the state of California. This state of "firsts" banned reproductive cloning or cloning to initiate a pregnancy, with the states of Arizona and Missouri providing legal measures which address the use of public funding for cloning.

Reproductive cloning is banned entirely in the states of Virginia, South and North Dakota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Iowa, Indiana, Connecticut, and Arkansas. But Maryland does not allow the use of stem cell research funds for reproductive cloning—including therapeutic cloning-- depending on the interpretation of the statue's definition of human cloning. But regardless where a person lives, cloning technology is moving forward with each state's legislature facing upcoming issues about it.

HISTORY OF CLONING

Cloning began in the early 1800s with scientists attempting to clone for the very first time frogs and sea urchins. Hans Dreisch first reached success in 1894 with the isolation of two-and-four cell embryos into small but complete larvae of the little creatures. Meanwhile, Hans Spemann successfully split a two-cell newt embryo into two parts which produced two larvae. He also is known for conducting an early nuclear transfer, where he partially constricted a newly fertilized egg cell by using a strand of baby hair.

By 1983, the development of nuclear transfer technology began from mammalian embryos with Steen Willadsen cloning lambs in 1986 by fusing the nucleus of an eight-cell embryo to an egg cell with the removal of the nucleus. From then on, other researchers began to clone the production of rats, goats, sheep, cattle and pigs. But it was not until 1997 that Ian Wilmut of Scotland produced the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell—Dolly.

Human cloning began in 2001 by Advanced Cell Technology of Worcestor, Massachusetts, who reported they created the first cloned human embryo for stem cell research. The organisms never developed past the six-cell stage. But in 2002, the first human clone was said to be completed by Clonaid, but no verification was allowed through genetic testing.

TYPES OF CLONING TECHNOLOGY

Most media states that when they talk about cloning, it refers to reproductive cloning. This is the one that involves creating duplicated humans, allowing scientists to redevelop a human into an image of health, prosperity and nobility.  On the other hand, therapeutic cloning involves creating human organs for transplanting a perfect match for transplanting. It is based on the patient's genetic material with no chance of rejection. For those who support it, therapeutic cloning provides an ideal for organ transplantation.

Therapeutic Cloning

Listed under names like somatic cell nuclear transfer or research cloning, therapeutic cloning involves not only saving lives but also improving them. Different from human reproductive cloning, it does not develop babies or children but stem cells. Steps involve the removal of the DNA from an embryo, replacing it with a DNA from an individual's cell. The resultant embryo grows for approximately 14 days with the stem cells extracted at this time (causing the death of the pre-embryo), encouraged to grow into a piece of human tissue, a quantity of skin,  or a complete human organ for transplant.

The embryonic stem cells are considered specific types of cells which can be coaxed into 220 types of body cells, growing into heart cells, brain cells, blood cells, or nerve cells. New research is working on techniques which will not cause the death of the pre-embryos. Instead, converted ordinary skin cells transfer to Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS cells) which will emulate the previous embryonic stem cells.

The advantages of therapeutic cloning are to perfectly match and replace organs to very ill and dying people: (1) insulin-secreting cells for diabetes, (2) stroke or Parkinson's disease nerve cells, or (3) liver cells can be used to repair a damaged organ. Stem cell research will be used for disease advocates and scientific societies---lymphoma, cancer, cystic fibrosis, aging, pediatrics, cell biology, cardiology, microbiology, ophthalmology, and reproductive medicine—who have sent letters to Congress to urge support for Federal funding of stem cell research, recently passed by President Obama.

Reproductive Cloning

Reproductive cloning is the one which the media talks about all the time, and the one which causes the most negative responses with the public.  Involving serious ethical questions, it is a technique which is intended to duplicate an existing human being. The DNA is removed from an ovum and replaced with the DNA from a cell of an adult. The fertilized ovum, called a pre-embryo, is then implanted in a womb and allowed to develop into a human being. Normal reproduction involves a mother and a father, or man and woman, to produce a child or children. In cloning reproduction, it involves simply a DNA source to develop a child. But Ronald Green, an ethical advisor to Advanced Cell Technology where a cloned human embryo was developed, feels that the risks in human cloning are too great until it becomes safer and more reliable.

Forbidden by law in many, many countries, the act of reproduction cloning involves the potential of not only producing an individual's twin but also producing severe genetic defects.  It also concerns fetal overgrowth in animals, or large-offspring syndrome. This is when the fetus grows unusually large, generally dying just before or right after birth. Presently, the health of cloned children is not guaranteed.