A Clone of Your Own?

The author of this informative and well-written account is a bioethicist and lawyer, so she is well placed to assess the various aspects of the cloning debate. She covers the scientific background, farming applications (Dolly the sheep looms large), stem cell therapy and issues arising from cloning for human reproduction. She broadly accepts the mainstream consensus, and does not for instance raise the broader questions raised by holistic biologists but she does point out that we are more than the sum of our genes in any event - personality transcends genetic identity. In her final chapter she cautions that modern life already makes us into clones through our conditioning and the anonymity implied by large scale operations. A thoughtful if not a radical book.