Bioethics, which is the study of value judgments pertaining to human conduct in the area of biology and includes those related to the practice of medicine, has been an important aspect of all areas in the scientific field (Bernstein, Maurice, M.D.). It is one of the factorsthat says whether or not specific scientific research can go on, and ifit can, by which rules, regulations and guidelines it must abide by. One of the most recent and controversial issues facing our society todayis the concept of cloning. On February 23, 1997, Ian Wilmut, a Scottishscientist, along with his colleagues at the Roslin Institute and PPLTherapeutics, announced to the world that they had cloned a lamb, whichthey named Dolly, after Dolly Parton, from an adult sheep(Mario,Christopher). The two share the same nucleic DNA, but differ interms of their mitochondrial DNA, which is vitally important for theregulation of the cell. The media and the press ignored this fact, andthus claimed that Dolly and her 'mother' were genetically identical,which sparked a fury of outcry all around the world. The technique oftransferring a nucleus from a somatic cell into an egg cell of which thenucleus had been removed, called nuclear transplantation, is anextension of research that had been ongoing for over 40 years.Up until now, scientists thought that adult cells could not be"reprogrammed" to behave like a fertilized egg and create an embryo, butthe evidence obtained by Dolly's success prove otherwise. The issues ofcloning have been around for a long time, starting with the publicationof Joshua Lederberg's 1966 article on cloning in the AmericanNaturalist. The public's interest has been perked by many sci-fi books,films, and movies including Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave NewWorld," 1973's "Sleeper," the 1978 film "The Boys from Brazil". Mostrecently, the movie "Multiplicity" dealt with replicating Billy Crystalover and over (Mario, Christopher). The ethical, leg...
