The process of cloning does not, in any way, create life. It starts with a LIVING cell. The cell is put in an environment that “tricks” it into thinking that it is the first cell of a fetus. Thus, this cell “thinks” that it has just been formed by the fertilization of a sperm and an egg. Thus, the cell begins to multiply, forming the fetus of whatever creature it was taken from. If the cell were not living, cloning could not happen.

This process has been around for a LONG time; however, until the famous “Dolly” case, the cell being used was always a cell from a very early stage in a fetus’ development (called a “pre-blastula” cell). The revolution with “Dolly” was that the scientists doing the cloning used a cell from an ADULT sheep. Thus, the cell was not a pre-blastula cell.

Whether we are talking about pre-blastula cloning or adult cloning, however, we ALWAYS start with a LIVING cell. That LIVING cell then begins to reproduce (as all life does). The only thing that cloning does is trick the living cell into reproducing in such a way as to make a fetus, rather than exact duplicates of itself.

In case you weren’t aware, this does not “speed up” the development of the creature. The “Dolly” clone took just as long to develop as any “normal” sheep fetus, and it had to develop in a female sheep’s womb. It was just started in a “test tube” and then implanted in the female sheep