John's Cloning Page

Welcome to John's Cloning Page. Before you begin to dig deeper into my site, I would like to offer some basic information about the site, the subjects it covers, and the field of cloning itself.

Cloning in the most basic sense is the production of an orga nism that is identical to another. In the cloning process, a scientist takes the genetic information of an organism and inserts into an unfertilized egg cell from a member of the same species. The egg then begins to develop, functioning under the direction of its newly acquired genetic code., and eventually, an genetically identical organism is created.

Beyond the scientific benefits of cloning there are the moral and ethical questions that have developed with the realization of the power cloning will best ow upon mankind. Those against cloning believe that it interferes with the natural process of reproduction, and fear the possible societal abuses of the technology. For those supporting it, cloning offers a chance to gain insight into heredity, cell devel opment, and genetic traits that far outweighs any negative social consequences. These views, and the debate between them can be found in greater detail in the Ethics section.

My site is divided into areas that not only contain these ethical concerns, but historical and scientific facts as well. The History section contains the history of cloning from 1962 to the present. The Techniques section contains technical explanations of cloning and animations of various techniques. In addition to the topics mentioned above, the Future section contains information on the possible future uses of cloning. The Ethics section contains views of both sides of the cloning debate. The Opinions section features a poll and a discussion area. These sections, and the web site as a whole, are designed to educate and enlighten the public about all aspects of the powerful technology that is currently being developed. I hope you will find this web site a valuable resource.