Tue, 4 Mar 1997 23:17:08 -0500 (EST)

With the whole shabang about cloning that just came out, I was wondering what
Orthodox leaders feel about human clones. (Lehavdil, the Pope and Cardinal
O'Connor have both denounced the cloning of humans.)

Today, all people have two parents as a result of sexual reproduction.
Cloning is a process where asexual reproduction is used; they take the
monoploid nucleus out of an egg cell and replace it with a diploid nucleus of
a body cell. Wouldn't that spark off new questions, such as who the clone's
parents are?

According to a recent New York Times article, scientists say that a clone is
the equivalent of a monozygotic (identical) twin who is born several years
later, and that the clone's parents are the parents of the organism whose
diploid nucleus was taken.

Either way, we are living in a time when there are so many new scientific
advances that halakha has to be reapplied. I imagine that Orthodox leaders
must have been in equal wonderment about the advent of electricity and
whether or not it is permissible on Shabbat, all those years ago.

What do you think?