whoever can afford it. This idea makes people scared, andit seems so overwhelming. And it helps explain why so much of the research is beingdone secretly. We may learn of the first human clone only months, even years, after he orshe is born--if the event hasn't happened already, as some scientists speculate. The teamthat cloned Dolly waited until she was seven months old to announce her existence.Creating her took 277 tries, and right up until her birth, scientists around the world weresaying that cloning a mammal from an adult cell was impossible. Of course, attitudes often change over time. In-vitro fertilization was effectivelyillegal in many states 20 years ago, and the idea of transplanting a heart was onceconsidered horrifying. Public opinion on cloning will evolve just as it did on these issues,advocates predict. But in the meantime, the crusaders are mostly driven underground.In fact the risks involved with cloning mammals are so great that Wilmut, thepremier cloner, calls it "criminally irresponsible" for scientists to be experimenting onhumans today. Even after four years of practice with animal cloning, the failure rate isstill overwhelming: 98% of embryos never implant or die off during gestation or soonafter birth. Animals that survive can be nearly twice as big at birth as is normal, or haveextra-large organs or heart trouble or poor immune systems. Dolly's "mother" was sixyears old when she was cloned. That may explain why Dolly's cells show signs of beingolder than they actually are--scientists joked that she was really a sheep in lamb'sclothing. This deviation raises the possibility that beings created by cloning adults willage abnormally fast. There are serious ethical issues involved with the potential cloning of humans.But the real ethical issue for me doesn't involve the creation of human life, but what wedo with that creation. The ethical issue does not involve the cloning process -- it involveswhat occurs after t...
