To: Lane3 who wrote (3804 ) 1/29/2001 1:01:29 AM From: hobo Respond to I don't expect so much as an open discussion on it in my lifetime. wired.com Cloning technology is already being integrated into important medical research. The ability to grow totipotent stem cells - the embryonic building blocks from which all the body's cells develop - is sparking a revolution. By using nuclear transfer - the essential procedure in cloning - scientists may soon be able to create transplantable tissues from stem cells to generate tissues that perfectly match a patient's. A British government panel has endorsed such "therapeutic cloning" and the harvesting of stem cells from human embryos discarded by IVF clinics. even a rare Asian gaur - a massive wild ox - have been cloned. Dog and cat clones are expected to appear soon. (See "How Much Is That Doggy in the Vitro?" Wired 8.03, page 220.) Primate researcher Wolf expects to successfully impregnate monkeys with clones sometime this spring. You can now order up your own cloned cow on the Net. There have even been clones of clones, and the fundamentals are becoming rote enough that a high school girl, working at Infigen - a Wisconsin animal-cloning company - was able to clone a cow. "People say, 'Can't you just do it for me? I'll be your guinea pig. You can experiment with me.'" wired.com After the National Bioethics Advisory Commission issued a report calling human cloning "morally unacceptable," Clinton proposed the Cloning Prohibition Act to give this statement the force of law. This legislation stalled when scientists pointed out that such a law might endanger research on stem cells. But Congress wanted something done, so the issue was handed over to the FDA. The agency effectively banned the procedure by insisting that cloning projects go through the same application process as experimental new drugs, knowing it couldn't survive this gauntlet. Meanwhile, laws were passed in some states to make cloning a felony. Uncle Frankestein said it's all chemistry you know he was for sure well ahead of his time.
