Modern science brings us many new tools. Like traditional tools, they can be used for good or for evil. However, things are rarely this black and white to the user – especially before the results of using the tool are fully understood. Animal cloning offers many potential advantages. For example, it can help restore endangered species. However there are a lot of unknowns about cloning. How good a copy is a clone? Dolly – the first cloned sheep – was afflicted by premature aging.

Reuters tells of the mysterious death of Matilda – Australia’s first cloned sheep. After a quick autopsy, Matilda was cremated because due to its decaying condition – at least according to the director of the South Australian Research and Development Institute. However, skeptics of cloning are doubtful of that reasoning. At this time, I am not going to tackle the pros and cons of human cloning. However, I will say that any attempt to clone a human should be banned until the procedure is 100% safe with animals. This would that give society time to have an informed discussion of the issue, but that is a side-benefit. It is simply unethical to clone human life when we don’t know if the clones will age prematurely, drop dead for no apparent reason, or have other unknown problems.