Imagine a world without cancer, leukemia, baldness, kidney failure, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and dozens of other diseases. No couple would be infertile, and gay people could have children of their own. No more endangered species would be announced, and ones that are already endangered would have their population increased to a safe level. This is a world of human cloning. All of these things and more would be possible if humans were able to create genetic copies of other humans.
             If you think cloning humans is nothing but science fiction, and is hundreds of years away, you are greatly mistaken. It is likely that by the year 2005 we will have the first successfully cloned human baby. Scientists have already cloned other mammals, the first being Dolly, the sheep, and tadpoles were successfully cloned by John Gurdon during the 1970s. Cloning is no longer in the future, but very much in the present.
             Cloning is a developing procedure in which a genetic copy is made from an existing organism. Cloning humans takes a specific procedure called somatic cell nuclear transfer. Many myths surround the idea of cloning people. There are numerous benefits and reasons to clone human beings, but there are also many detractors. There is a lot of information about cloning out there, starting with the cloning procedure.
             Various ways to clone organisms exist, but the procedure that humans will probably be cloned by is called somatic sell nuclear transfer. Somatic cell nuclear transfer starts with an egg donor. The donor is just a carrier and has no relation to the clone whatsoever. A doctor then extracts the egg from the donor and further extracts the nucleus from the egg, creating an egg without a nucleus. Then, a cell is taken from the person to be cloned. This can be any cell which contains DNA. It can be taken from hair, skin, et cetera. This cell is then electronically fused with the egg that is mis...