Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

Recent advances in cloning have offered hopes for disease treatment and resolving some other difficulties related to health, but this technology comes with social, legal, ethical, religious and other questions, and has caused different reactions worldwide. While some countries have enacted legislations on cloning, other countries have no clear law. Many countries and organizations, for various reasons including ethical concerns, have taken strong stand against reproductive cloning, and some even against research cloning. Some refer to the positive results of cloning and are in favor. Overall, most are in favor of cell and tissue cloning for therapeutic reasons and against reproductive cloning. In general, cloning is an important development in genetics and biotechnology that can be both lifesaving and destructive. Therefore, decision makers should be aware of its positive aspects for human health and prevent potential social and ethical problems through appropriate legislation In this paper, we present the opinions of opposers and supporters, and an overview of the position of countries and organizations regarding human cloning.