ethics and cloning

The Ethics of Cloning
Daniel Eisenberg, M.D.
Several years ago, a “new” animal was discovered in Australia that appeared to be a “kosher” pig. While the animal was previously unknown, the rules governing its status as kosher or treif are as old as the Torah. After much debate, a decision was rendered that it was indeed non-kosher. Today, cloning presents us with our own “new creation,” a baby with no “parents”. While the world stretches its concepts of morality and ethics to encompass this new reality, the Jewish world also endeavors to decide if human cloning is permitted.
There is no clear consensus yet in Jewish law regarding cloning. Since the technology to clone people is not yet a reality, the issue is an academic one, not a practical one. For this reason Jewish law, which relies strongly upon precedent (much like secular law), has no actual cases that have been decided. Scholarly analyses are still being published by prominent rabbis. Already, the two chief rabbis of Israel are reported to disagree. At least one prominent American halachic authority has ruled that cloning is permitted in certain instances. Many technical issues of Jewish law will have to be resolved before a final consensus is reached. In addition, many deep philosophical concepts in Judaism will also have to be applied to cloning before the final decision is reached.
source:http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/clone.html