Humans may follow
" a human being born of clonal reproduction will most likely appear on the Earth within the next 20 to 50 years, and even sooner if some nation should actively promote the venture,' said Nobel laureate James D Watson in 1971. Nobody took him seriously until the announcement of the birth of Dolly, the first adult cloned sheep, in February 27, 1997.
The birth of Dolly set off a debate which reached the peak in January this year when an eccentric us scientist Richard Seed announced a scheme to start a commercial human cloning clinic in Chicago. A physicist by training, Seed has been running a company to help infertile women conceive by using embryo transfer techniques. His proposal met with predictable reactions of bewilderment, indignation and condemnation. Seed has realised that the demand for cloning will come from the powerful desire of humans to have their own children.
What many people failed to see all these years was the slow but steady development in cloning technology. The use of laboratory or farm animals has brought science closer to making the cloning of humans a reality. Some experts consider human cloning feasible within as little as five years. It does not cost a fortune to do it and the financial returns are lucrative enough for even small research outfits to have a crack at the problem.
The creators of Dolly were outdone in July 1998 by an international team of scientists of the University of Hawaii. They reported the creation of multiple clones and clones of those clones
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