Cloning’s Long Legacy–And Why It’ll Never Be Used on Humans

April 29, 2019

(Discover Magazine) – Those involved with the science around cloning agree. Prominent scientists involved in cloning say they’ve never had any intention of replicating a person — and are as wary of the idea as everyone else. Their research serves other purposes, they say. For decades, investigations into cloning have been divided into two areas: reproductive cloning, mainly to improve livestock breeding; and therapeutic cloning aimed at growing cells, not whole humans, that could be used to treat diseases. Today, just a handful of labs worldwide work in cloning, and other advances make cloning even less likely to be used in the future, researchers say. “People love these thrilling, world-changing innovations, but there are always … biological obstacles that are not so simple to overcome,” says Dietrich Egli, an assistant professor of developmental cell biology at Columbia University.