Cloning is the creation of an organism that is an exact genetic copy of another. There are different types of cloning. A basic understanding of the different types of cloning is key to taking an informed stance on current public policy issues and making the best possible personal decisions. The two bacteria that result from this form of asexual reproduction are genetically similar, they are clones of each other. In contrast, during the process of sexual reproduction, the nucleus of a sperm cell, which carries the father's DNA, fuses with the nucleus of the egg cell, which contains the mother's DNA. The resulting offspring carry genetic material from both parents and are not identical to either parent.
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human being, human cell, or human tissue.
Last week, two news hit the “cloning” world and both involved Chinese cloning scientists.
Last Friday, Dr Jerry Yang of UConn died after 10 years’ fighting against cancer. Jerry was credited for cloning the first live animal in US, the caw “Amy”. His death was very unfortunated since his next goal was to clone human cells for medical treatment.
Just a few days before Jerry’s death, another breakthrough news hit the world. A Chinese professor Dr Li announced that his team had successfully cloned first set of human embryronic cells. Aming the 5 successful clones, 4 from adult skin cells and one from lymph cells of a patient suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Is this exactly what Jerry was dreaming of?
Hum…may be it is still too early to say.
Immediately after the news broke out, comments rushed into internt. Many of them questioned the validity of the report. Some internet-searching went even further to question the education background of Dr Li. The atmosphere reminds us a similar situation when the Korean scientist claimed successful cloning of wolf a few years ago
So the question is: Is it a cloning of a human cell or a human “Fraud”?
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