Is nuclear transfer a type of human cloning?
The second conceptual issue, relevant for NT only, is whether it amounts to human cloning. This question also can be answered both affirmatively and negatively, depending on what is determined as the defining characteristic of cloning and on whether fertilized or unfertilized oocytes are used (De Wert, 2000; Jacobs et al., 2006). Usually, cloning is defined as the production of a genetic copy, a genetically identical organism or individual ( genetic duplication ). Some may deny that NT is a form of cloning because this application is not aimed at the conception of genetically identical individuals but at the prevention of severe genetic disorders. But what is, or should be, the essential or defining characteristic of cloning? Is it the aim, the technique and/or the results? As there is much confusion about the terms used in the debate on human cloning (President’s Council on Bioethics, 2002), a further clarification of the concept is needed for the moral evaluation. Several distinction
