Bioethics and Cloning, Part 1

Abstract

“Clone” is a collective noun (I, Stewart 1997, p. 771). A collective noun names a group and is composed of individual members, such as “herd” or “flock.” Derived from the Greek klôn for twig or slip, “clone” was first used in biology to describe the aggregate of asexually produced progeny of an individual, either naturally occurring or man-made; the definition later expanded to mean a group of genetically identical members who originate from a single ancestor. Thus, a clone is a group that results from the process of asexual reproduction.