"First cloned baby expected in January"

[Grojlach]

They're finally going to do it, so it seems... Thoughts, comments, anyone? I really hope this can be discussed in a decent and mature way without flaming... If the mods expect/see trouble, feel free to close/delete it. I realize how heated these debates can get, so sorry in advance if it gets out of hand. But it's still remarkable news if it turns out to be true.

Italian Doctor Says Cloned Baby Due in January

ROME (Reuters) - Controversial Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori said on Tuesday a woman pregnant with a cloned embryo was due to give birth in January, but declined to give any details about her.
"It's going well. There are no problems," Antinori told a news conference, adding he had made a "scientific and cultural contribution" to the project but was not personally in charge.
The doctor, who made world headlines in 1994 when he helped a 62-year-old woman have a child, supports the cloning of human beings as a way for infertile couples to have children.
Many in the scientific community have challenged Antinori's statements in the past that women have been pregnant with cloned babies. He produced no evidence at the news conference.
Large numbers of doctors and scientists reject human cloning as irresponsible, saying the risk of creating deformed or sick babies is too great and that it poses unanswerable ethical dilemmas.
Antinori would not reveal the location or nationality of the woman, but said ultra-sound scans showed the fetus currently weighed 2.5 to 2.7 kg (5.5 to 5.9 pounds) and was "absolutely healthy."
He said in May three women were pregnant with clones, one in her 10th week, one in her seventh and one in her sixth. He declined at the time to say where any of the trio were, disclosing only that one lived in an Islamic nation.
Antinori did not specify on Tuesday if the woman he said was due to give birth in January was one of the three he had spoken of earlier.

Source: Yahoo! News

[ 11-27-2002, 06:18 AM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

[Memnoch]

I see no reason why this topic can't be discussed in a mature fashion. All it takes is for people to exercise self-control and not lose their tempers just because someone else has a point of view different from their own. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Grojlach]

Originally posted by Memnoch: I see no reason why this topic can't be discussed in a mature fashion. All it takes is for people to exercise self-control and not lose their tempers just because someone else has a point of view different from their own. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks for putting trust in us, Memnoch. Let's hope it doesn't get out of hand, then. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Paladin2000]

This is somewhat inevitable. My guess is in another few years, the rich would be able to get people to clone their body parts for replacements.

[andrewas]

Originally posted by Paladin2000: This is somewhat inevitable. My guess is in another few years, the rich would be able to get people to clone their body parts for replacements.

Thats theraputic cloning, a different matter. Cloning a replacement heart or something could save lives, with far better results than a transplant from another person.

But cloning an entire human being is a different matter. For a start, animal clones have a high proportion of defects. Unless these italians have made significant advances in technology, the same would apply to the cloned human.

Then theres the whole "we are playing God" argument that I wont get into.

And theres the ethics of creating a child that will probably be treated as a freak its entire life. Assuming that it turns out healthy enough to have a life in the first place.

[Paladin2000]

But before they could clone only the organs, they need to clone the whole body just to harvest...yuck! This is too sick. Forget it. [img]graemlins/1puke.gif[/img]

[ 11-27-2002, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: Paladin2000 ]

[andrewas]

Originally posted by Paladin2000: But before they could clone only the organs, they need to clone the whole body just to harvest...yuck! This is too sick. Forget it. [img]graemlins/1puke.gif[/img]

With current technology, yes. But there working on ways to clone a specific organ.

[Mack_Attack]

Originally posted by andrewas: quote: Originally posted by Paladin2000: But before they could clone only the organs, they need to clone the whole body just to harvest...yuck! This is too sick. Forget it. [img]graemlins/1puke.gif[/img]

With current technology, yes. But there working on ways to clone a specific organ.[/QUOTE]I have no problem with the cloning of organs but cloning of humans is just not right IMO.

andrewas you said that there is defects when cloning animals but if I rember correctly there was no problems with the sheep that was cloned. But I could be wrong the media maybe played it out as if there was nothing wrong. You hear anything that went wrong with the sheep???

[Moiraine]

Originally posted by Mack_Attack: andrewas you said that there is defects when cloning animals but if I rember correctly there was no problems with the sheep that was cloned. But I could be wrong the media maybe played it out as if there was nothing wrong. You hear anything that went wrong with the sheep???

If I remember correctly, the problem with the sheep was that they had made a clone from adult cells, and it seems that the cells somehow have a kind of memory of their own age - so the sheep died very quickly, of old age, since its cells were waaay older than it was.

[Mack_Attack]

That is a bummer. Ok mister sheep you get to live but only for 10 min.

So that being the case then there is no advantage to transplanting his heart into his buddy. What would be the point getting the heart of a half already dead sheep. [img]graemlins/laugh2.gif[/img]

[ 11-27-2002, 09:54 AM: Message edited by: Mack_Attack ]