Can cloning humans be justified?

Human cloning is the production of one or more human beings that are genetically identical to another human being. Two different methods of cloning have been defined, these are adult cloning where an adults DNA is cloned in order to create a replica adult in due course, and embryo cloning which is where the cloning is done by reproducing an identical embryo. However, in both cases the result is the same and a duplicated human being is created.

The realisation that human cloning is now actually possible is only very recent. The first successful cloning of any animal only took place in 1997 when a team of British scientists achieved what many had previously thought to have been quite impossible, namely the cloning of a single adult cell to create a whole new animal, Dolly the sheep. Researchers believe they can revolutionise medicine if they are allowed to apply to humans some of the technology pioneered in Dolly the sheep.

However, so-called therapeutic cloning, which could re...