In October, Dr. Jerry Hall of George Washington University set off an ethical debate when he was able to successfully divide human embryos into clones of each other.
The clones, which Hall said were never intended to survive, were destroyed. Yet, the ability to reproduce exact copies of humans left the medical community reeling.
The ability to produce genetic duplicates, or clones, is a common practice in the agriculture and livestock industries. But this marked the first time anyone had attempted to divide a human embryo.
Experts said Hall's findings would spur ethical debates about how far science should go in the field of human reproduction.
