Scientists Claim Human Cloning Success | NYT

[Ediacara]

Scientists Claim Cloning Success
By GINA KOLATA

Published: February 12, 2004

Scientists in South Korea report that they have created human embryos through cloning and extracted embryonic stem cells, the universal cells that hold great promise for medical research.

Their goal, the scientists say, is not to clone humans but to advance understanding of the causes and treatment of disease.

But the work makes the birth of a cloned baby suddenly more feasible. For that reason, it is likely to reignite the fierce debate over the ethics of human cloning.

The work was led by Dr. Woo Suk Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon of Seoul National University and will be published tomorrow in the journal Science. The paper provides a detailed description of how to create human embryos by cloning. Experts in the field not involved with the work said they found the paper persuasive.

More at the New York Times

[Ediacara]

1. kick

:kick: for the morning crew

[enki23]

2. no shit

i can't wait to see if this is legit. at least it didn't come from clone aid. it could be another cold fusion debacle, but i wonder. human cloning isn't really all that unlikely. even if nuclear somatic transfer is said not to work for humans, it doesn't rule out other techniques, or refinements.

this is potentially fucking *huge.*

of course, the puritain "if it's fertilized it must have a soul" schmucks (seems to be a loud minority, if not plurality of americans) will instantly move to outlaw any cloning work with human embryos. i expect that within a few weeks we'll see over the top legislation to that effect signed, with the appearance of great gravity and moment, by a solmn looking chimpanzee.

[RandomKoolzip]

3. But....but....the Raelians! What about the Raelians?!?

(Anybody remember that?)

[enki23]

4. that was clone aid, wasn't it?

the firm that pretended to do their cloning for them?

[KDLarsen]

7. Yeah...

.. when I read the story on Tele text this morning, I suddently started thinking about Clonaid as well. Whatever happened to them? I know that their leader was jailed, but what happened to the (according to them) clone?

[truthseeker1]

10. The Raelians and Clonaid

I was flipping through the channels the other night and paused on Fox for a moment - Neil Cavuto was on and he had the CEO of Clonaid on - a French woman, don't remember her name - they had her on satellite from Australia, and they also had the Raelian guru guy - dressed in a white, Star-Trek looking outfit on satellite from Florida.

The Clonaid woman kept insisting that they had just cloned a sixth baby and the Raelian guy was there I guess as a character witness (kept saying he had no reason not to believe her). Cavuto kept badgering her about the proof - he clearly didn't believe her - and she kept saying she couldn't provide proof because it was illegal and she didn't want to be caught. She seemed very smug. It was a very weird interview.

[rustydog]

5. It is limited success, they cloned the human rectum..

That has an uncanny resemblance to George Bush*

[Moderator]

6. Kick

:dem:

[enki23]

8. it's funny. this, truly, is the biggest news of the day

this will play havoc with the political world for a long, long time to come. welcome to the new "abortion" hot-button issue. when people learn how much promise these techniques hold for treating real, live living humans... oh, the fun fights we'll have.

sometimes it's fun living in a backward, superstitious, puritanical society of fucking imbeciles. most times, it's not.

anyway, this really *is* the biggest news. whether people know it yet or not.

[Ediacara]

9. ya, I'm a little confsed this isn't getting more responses

Maybe people are a little more skeptical because the last attempt was by the Raelians...