South Korean scientists stunned their rivals around the world last week by announcing that they had produced the first human embryos that were genetic matches for diseased or injured patients, and had done so by a highly efficient method that could bring further rapid advances in cloning. It was sobering evidence that leadership in "therapeutic cloning" has shifted abroad while American scientists, hamstrung by political and religious opposition, make do with private or state funds in the absence of federal support.
The Korean achievement, published in the online edition of the journal Science, makes the current debate in Congress over federal financing of stem cell research look pathetically behind the times. Under current restrictions imposed by President Bush, federal money can be used for research on 20 stem cell lines that were derived from surplus embryos at fertility clinics years ago, but not on any newly derived lines. A House bill that may come up for a vote soon would expand the number of surplus embryos that could be studied but would not allow federal funding for therapeutic cloning, the most promising avenue for stem cell research.
Unfortunately, the House has twice passed bills to ban therapeutic cloning outright, not just restrict federal financing, and President Bush remains "dead set against human cloning," according to a White House spokesman. The president threatened to veto even the modest proposals to use more surplus embryos from fertility clinics. In the upcoming struggles over stem cell legislation, supporters of sound science must ensure that no ban is imposed on therapeutic cloning that would further shackle American researchers while scientists in Asia and Britain forge ahead.
So my American Jo Ho friends what do you think of this? I'm from a medical background so I see religion messing around with science where it does not belong and we will fall further, and further behind our rivals.....thoughts? comments? moral soap box sermons? Will you be happy allowing yourself, your children, and your family to die needlessly for your "anti" point of view????
Cloning....Right Wrong .... A post from NYT
by EvilForce 8 Replies latest social current
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EvilForce
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Satanus
But mr evilforce, as the american fundies obey their god, he will bless them, making them more prosperous, most powerful, and so successful, that soon, they will descend into a new dark age.
S
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EvilForce
Fundies have always opposed advances in science and medicine yet now take adavatage of those same advances. Yet they still try to stilt research. Sad, so very sad.
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the_classicist
The things about clones are, while they might have the same genes, these genes will, most likely, be expressed differently. And what's more, you can't clone a person's mind.
The thing about clones, however, is that they don't live as long. I believe this is due to something to do with the DNA and the caps on them (i forget the formal name from biology, but cancer cells don't have 'em, so they're immortal).
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EvilForce
Well class... I think you are thinking of "Sci Fi" rules. Cloning is such a new field we really don't have all the answers about it yet. But thanks for your input :)
My fellow Radical Soviet Canuckistan.... big hug. -
tetrapod.sapien
i heard about this in the news as well, and was relieved that above ground scientists were in the news for this. it's pathetic that american scientists who are intent on working in this field legally might have to move elsewhere to continue their R & D. i think a lot of good can come from this research. kudo's to the S. Koreans.
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dh
I saw on TV not long ago, a program where they said that within our lifetime it would be possible to have replacement body parts grown on a cloned body, therefore transplants would not be a problem, neither would amputated limbs etc. Maybe it is a bit frankenstein like, but in all honesty, if I lost my legs and could have new ones grown and attached to me, of course I would want it, and if all of the vital organs which are prone to failure can be replaced when they get old. Heart, Kidney's, Liver etc... Well, wouldn't it be worth it?
Maybe we are meant to die after 70 years, maybe we're not, but I think cloning body parts will do away with the need of organ donors, blood donors, false teeth etc. People always whine about playing God, but why the hell shouldn't we, if God can do it and it's morally okay, then so can we. If those fundamentalists believe in God, then that God made mistakes, just like men will. In all honesty I would rather trust a dr. to attach a new arm to my body than pray to God and ask him to do it.
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New Worldly Translation
The only boundaries science should have are those made by scientists, who understand the actualities and issues.
This whole debate about cloning in the media is really getting me angry. It seems religionists and politicians ignorance is proportionate to their vocality in opposition of what's actually being researched in the UK and Asia. Opposers seem to revel in a science fiction view of cloning and that the scientists have 'gone mad' or 'are playing God'. There's a similar debate with regard to so called 'designer babies' which are nothing of the sort and were only dubbed such by an ignorant media who had visions of parents deciding eye colour, intellect, height etc of their prospective child. Even though it's far from the truth politicians and religionists love to point to these fallacies as arguments against the continued research and in many cases provoke a knee jerk public reaction.
It also amazes me the number of daytime chat shows where they have debates or phone ins on subjects like these without having any scientist to debate the facts. All they have is some clueless hosts holding newspaper headlines saying how dreadful it all is or every Tom, Dick and Harry phoning in on the discussion with the comment along the lines of 'well I don't know the details... but I'm against it!'
I say all the best to the scientists at Newcastle Uni and their continued research into helping victims of debilatating disease.
Oh, also those fundies who are against the use of surplus eggs from fertility clinics. What do they think happens to those eggs if they're not used? They're binned, that's what.
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Petruska
I just read the title: "Cloning...Right Wrong..."
Well if science can explain and do, why not? Itch one has is own individual privacy and right to choose.