During the summer of 1996, an animal like no other was born into the world. Measuring around a meter tall and covered in insulating material, there were countless others, almost identical, roaming freely across the countryside. But this animal was special; he was precisely identical to one of his brothers. Dolly the Sheep was the very first artificial clone, an exact copy of her genetic donor. In the fifteen years since Dolly's birth, cloning technology has improved at a steady rate, and now humanity as a whole finds itself at a dead end: human clones. Scientists are close to being able to clone a human being, but should they? A ban on human cloning issued by the World Health Organization is in force (World Health Organization 1), but it is not binding in nature and each government must develop its own cloning policy. For the United States, the choice is obvious: the federal government should not ban human reproductive cloning. There are many reasons for this, such as the notion of cloning as an alternative to adoption, the elimination of diseases, the possibility of continuing to live after death and the possibility of an improved quality of life for the clones themselves. -themselves. At the same time, there are arguments against human cloning, mainly centered on moral issues, which also need to be addressed. The first argument in favor of human reproductive cloning is that it could be used to give children to those who cannot have them biologically. means. Infertile or same-sex couples who want to have children face a dilemma: other people must always be involved in order to have a child. Adoption is an obvious choice, but the child is not genetically related to either parent. Those who wish to have a...... middle of paper...... 10.(2005): 50-55. Academic research completed. EBSCO. Internet. February 23, 2011. Choi, Charles Q. “Cloning a Human.” Scientific American 302.6 (2010): 36-38. Academic research completed. EBSCO. Internet. February 23, 2011. Havstad, Joyce C. “Human reproductive cloning: a conflict of freedoms.” Bioethics 24.2 (2010): 71-77. Academic research completed. EBSCO. Internet. February 24, 2011. MacDonald, Chris. “Yes, human cloning should be allowed.” Apocalypse: Bright Future/Dark Future. Ed. Patrick F. Bolen. New York: Pearson, 2011. 325-328. Print.Simons, Janet A., Donald B. Irwin, and Beverly A. Drinnin. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Psychology: the search for understanding. St. Paul: West Pub., 1987. Print. World Health Organization. “Reproductive cloning of human beings: progress of the debate at the United Nations General Assembly.” WHO.int. World Health Organization, 2004. Web. February 23. 2011.