Michael Woods

About the author: Michael Woods is science editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The announcement in 1997 of the successful cloning of an adult sheep led to widespread concern that human beings might be next to be cloned. Polls indicated that the majority of Americans thought that cloning of humans was immoral, while church officials, political leaders, and ethicists generally reacted negatively to the idea of human cloning (even if they supported the cloning of animals). Supporters of cloning research argued that much of the public's concern was based on misconceptions about what exactly cloning is and how it works. While no one has yet attempted human cloning, it poses a future challenge as society weighs its potential costs and benefits.

Scientists in Scotland shocked the world on February 22, 1997, by announcing that they had...