S Food and Drug Administration (2014), defines a somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), cloning, as the method in which organisms are asexually produced from the cell of another organism creating an identical copy of the donor cells DNA. According to the University of Utahs genetic science learning center (2014), cloning technology has been around for over a century with the first demonstrations of artificial embryo twinning dating back to the year 1885. Biotechnology scientist, Xiangzhong Yang (2006) stated in an article he wrote on nuclear transfer cloning that in 1997 Steen Willadsen produced the first successfully cloned mammal with Dolly the sheep by somatic cell nuclear transfer. This experiment proved that mammals created by somatic cell nuclear transfer could become fully developed (Genetic Science Learning Center, 2014). The decades spent researching and experimenting with somatic cell nuclear transferring has led to countless discoveries that have affected the world of science. .
A somatic cell is any cell of a living organism that is not a reproductive cell (Genetic Science Learning Center, 2014). The process of SCNT is when the nucleus, the part of a cell that contains DNA, of a somatic cell is transferred into an enucleated oocyte or an immature female reproductive cell that has had its nucleus removed (Yang, 2006, p.64). Once an embryo is created from this transfer process it can be used for two different types of cloning. Yang (2006) discusses the two types of cloning that can be executed by using SCNT technology. The first of which is reproductive cloning. Reproductive cloning generates an exact replica of an organism that provided the cell nucleus for cloning (Yang, 2006, p.63). Yang (2006), explores the many applications of reproductive cloning for instance the construction of cloned animals like Dolly the sheep for biomedical and veterinary research or its ability to help reproduce endangered species (Yang, 2006, p.
