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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 factors that says

whether or not certain scientific research can go on, and if it can, under which rules and

regulations it must abide by. One of the most recent and controversial issues facing our society

today is the idea of cloning. On February 23, 1997, Ian Wilmut, a Scottish scientist, along with

his colleagues at the Roslin Institute and PPL Therapeutics, announced to the world that they

had cloned a lamb, which they named Dolly, after Dolly Parton, from an adult sheep (Mario,

Christopher).

The two share the same nucleic DNA, but differ in terms of their mitochondrial DNA,

which is vitally important for the regulation of the cell. The media and the press ignored this fact,

and thus claimed that Dolly and her “mother” were genetically identical, which sparked a fury of

outcry all around the world. The technique of transferring a nucleus from a somatic cell into an

egg cell of which the nucleus had been removed, called nuclear transplantation, is an extension 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, but the evidence obtained by Dolly’s success prove

otherwise. The issues of cloning have been around for a long time, starting with the publication of

Joshua Lederberg’s 1966 article on cloning in the American Naturalist, and the publics interest

has been perked by many sci-fi books,...