Human cloning: Latest News
Futurist Topics - Cloning
Human cloning: who is cloning humans, how, why and who is paying
How human clones are being made - for medical research. Arguments for and against human cloning research. Why investors are moving away from human cloning and why human cloning now looks a last-century way to fight disease. Why some people want to clone themselves or even to clone the dead (and not just cloning pets).
Australian government gives first license to create cloned human embryos to try and obtain embryonic stem cells. (17 Sept 2008)
The in vitro-fertilization firm Sydney IVF was granted the license and reportedly has access to 7,200 human eggs for its research.
If the firm is successful it would be a world first, the Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), which granted the license.
United Nations has given up its attempt to introduce a worldwide legal ban on some or all types of human cloning (3 March 2005). On Tuesday its deeply divided general assembly voted to adopt a watered-down "declaration" that condemns all forms of human cloning but is not legally binding. The declaration, which was passed by 84 votes to 34, with 37 abstentions, prohibits "all forms of human cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life". But it has been widely criticised for being imprecise and meaningless.
Cloned cows may be safe to eat (12 April 2005) - claims made following health and safety tests on meat and milk from a small number of cloned cows culled from a herd of 100. Although fat content appeared to be a little higher in the clones, no other significant differences were found. Speaking on BBC World TV, Dr Patrick Dixon commented: "Although the meat may be safe, cloning cattle for farmers is a stupid thing to do from the commercial point of view. Failure rates are high, deformity and other development problems are very common, and the proceedure is expensive as well as slow. It would only be worth cloning a very special bull, to create a twins for breeding, but even then the costs might outweigh the benefits. We are very unlikely to see herds created this way, unless there is something very unique about them - for example if they had human genes added so that the cows produced something similar to breast milk. The technology exists to do this, but it is uncertain if such a product would be acceptable to mothers."
Dr Dixon pointed out that cloned herds would be very vulnerable to attack by bacteria, viruses or fungi. "Unlike normal herds, cloned animals show no genetic variation, so the same strain of virus that kills one animal would be likely to kill an entire herd. Every species relies on genetic variation to for resistance to disease and cloning would create real risks to farmers if carried out on a large scale - even supposing it were possible." For more see: cloning stories and human breast milk from cows?
Growing new tissue and organs - stem cell research and therapeutic cloning Bone marrow and other tissues could repair your brain, spinal cord and heart and cure diabetes or old-age blindness. Adult stem cells promise investor returns while embryonic stem cells and therapeutic cloning raise major ethical, legal, and image problems.
Korean and US scientists claim human cloning breakthrough - Woo Suk Hwany of Soeul National University in Korea announced in February 2004 that he had succesfully cloned healthy human embryos, removed embryonic stem cells and grown them in mice. Just a couple of weeks ealier, Dr Panos Zavos made another of his frequent cloning announcements about attempts he and others are making to produce healthy cloned babies. The Korean and US teams are using human cloning technology to try to create stem cell lines which can be used to study disease.
While they are opposed to the abuse of human cloning technology to produce babes, their own cloning advances are making life easier for people like Zavos. Either way, most stem cell research is shifting rapidly away from human embryo cloning and use of embryonic stem cells, to adult stem cell development. Embryonic stem cells are controversial to use (many countries have banned the work), hard to grow, hard to control (can become cancerous), are rejected in the body unless made to order for an individual by cloning, or used in an immune protected site like the brain.
That's why the makers of Dolly the Sheep ran out of human cloning money and went out of business. Human cloning for medical research is looking very last-century, and researchers are losing interest. Despite the UK passing laws several years ago allowing human cloning for research, not one application has yet been received. Investors really can't see the point either. Nor can many other nations including the rest of Europe, who have made human cloning illegal - even for medical research. In comparison, there is no shortage of commercial funding for adult stem cell research which is showing spectacular results in treating mice and rats with stroke, heart and spinal cord damage. Huge potential, no controversy, rapid progress, easy funding.
There is nothing particularly special about an embryonic cell from the genetic point of view: the genes are the same as in adults. The only difference is the nature of the chemical bath around those genes. But as we are discovering more, you don't need to put an adult nucleus into an egg to create the right environment: in many cases we can do so in other ways. Umbilical cord cells are also a useful alternative.
Professor Jonathan Slack at Bath University has managed to convert human adult liver cells into pancreas cells producing insulin, using a simple chemical switch. Others have restored normal function to rats whose spinal cords have been cut. Clinical trials using bone marrow to rebuild heart muscle have been successful. Regeneration of adult brain has been seen using adult cells in animals - and so on.
Press Association copy:
"Dr Patrick Dixon, an author and expert in the ethics of human cloning, dismissed the idea that today's announcement marked a breakthrough.
He said: "Except in tissues like the brain, there are huge problems with rejection of these embryonic stem cells if they are introduced into adults.
"It is very difficult for them to grow properly and very difficult to control them," he said. "The idea that this offers a real breakthrough is based on a scientific nonsense.
"But in this supposedly spectacular benefit lies a serious risk that this technology will be abused."
He cautioned that developments in these techniques would be "handing a gift" to controversial scientists such as Dr Panos Zavos and Clonaid intent on cloning human babies.
Dr Dixon said embryonic stem cell research was being overtaken by advances using adult cells. "Human cloning technology using embryonic stem cells is very last century. We do not need it.
"It is being overtaken rapidly by the spectacular advances in tissue repair using adult stem cells taken from the person who is unwell.
"Clinical trials are already showing results in people with heart failure while animal studies have shown successful repair in brain after stroke, heart muscle, spinal cord and other tissues."
Dolly the Sheep is dead - possibly the world's most famous animal was put to sleep on 14th February 2003 after developing progressive lung disease. Dolly was cloned from a dead adult sheep using frozen cells and born on 5th July 1996. There have been many reports that Dolly may have been getting old before her time, developing arthritis and possibly other problems. Scientists are waiting for the results of a post mortem to try to understand whether Dolly's latest problems were linked to the cloning technique, which commonly causes severe abnormalities. The big worry is whether teams trying to clone human babies will accidentally create very sick children.
Clonaid claims birth of first human clone (Eve) by caesarian section on 26th December 2002 and a second child in Europe (Netherlands) to a lesbian couple in early January, a third in late January to a Japanese couple who cloned their dead son, plus another to a couple from Saudi Arabia and a further child - country of origin not declared. But no evidence of any kind had been offered by mid February to substantiate their claims.
Born outside the US to an American woman, Eve was apparently created using Dolly technology - a skin cell and a human egg from the "mother" who is infertile. Clonaid claims 3 other "mothers" will give birth soon, one of which is carrying a twin of a dead child.
While many experts expressed doubts about the claims, Clonaid said that independent gene testing would prove the claim about Eve in less than a week. This promise was withdrawn after a lawsuit was begun in the US to make Eve a ward of court, on the basis that the "mother" was the baby girl's twin sister and the "mother" had no legal parental rights even though she had just given birth to her own twin. A similar court case was launched in the Netherlands after reports that the second birth was to a Dutch lesbian. Clonaid say that the "parents" are afraid their cloned babies will be seized and taken away from them permanently. In early February Clonaid said that testing of the Japanese baby boy was under way.
Editor: The claims could be true given the pace of human cloning research and the commitment to the project. For example Lu Guangxiu's team in Changsha China reported in January 2003 that they had also successfully grown 80 human clones, four of them to balls of hundreds of cells, the stage when IVF embryos are usually implanted. Even if Clonaid's claims are false, the momentum for human cloning is so great, the global race so intense, that we are likely to see clones born quite soon elsewhere - unfortunately - with huge physical and emotional risks to the babies created. More on this story about Clonaid, and press comments arguing against human cloning, by Dr Patrick Dixon.
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Mankind from the very beginning has always desired to be their own God. Empires after Empire has risen with kings and rulers, and all of them have fallen time and time again. If we would just read the Word of God, we would realize that God will not be mocked! If your read in the book of Daniel, the Lord Himself gave the prophet a dream and in that dream He GOD! told Daniel that in the end times, there would rise a Kingdom that will deceive the Nations of the World, this Kingdom will be a one world government and it will have a fierce Ruler that will want to exhalt himself over every other Kingdom. Read DANIEL Chapter 2:43...And as you saw the IRON mixed with miry and earthen clay, so they shall mingle themselves in the seed of men...in (marriage bonds); but they will NOT hold together (for such two elements can NEVER harmonize) even as iron does not mingle itself with clay.
What does this mean? IRON=Technology or Robotics...Clay
=Dust or earthly material....
You get the picture right! That's what we are seeing today and it's only going to get more bizzar!
DANIEL 12:6 And one said to the man clother in linen, who was abover the waters of the river. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7. And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when He held up his right and his left hand toward the heavens and swore by Him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time (2500 years); and when they have made an end of shattering and crushing the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
8. And I heard, but i did not understand. Then I said, O MY LORD, what shall be the issue and final end of these things?
9.And he the angel said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end.
10. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be tried, smelted, and Refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. And none f the wicked shall understand, but the teachers and those who are wise shall understand.
11. And from the time that the continual burnt offerings is taken away and the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION is set up, there shall be 1290 days.
12. Blessed, happy, fortunate, spiritually prosperous, and to be envied is he who waits expectantly and earnestly who endures without wavering beyond that period of tribulation.
13. But you Daniel, who was now over ninety years of age, for you shall rest and shall stand in your alloted place at the end of these days.
We are seeing perilous times, Nuclear Power is in the hands of ruthless leaders! This generation will probably see the end of this age come to and end, my question is. Are you ready to meet your maker?
There is only one way to see Him.
John 14:6 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one can come to the Father except through me.
Revelation 22:12 "Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Revelation 22:16 "I Jesus, have sent my Angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to His throne. "I am the bright morning Star".
20) YES, I AM COMING SOON!"
I don't think we could tell the difference between a clone and a real human in a crowd of 100 people if they told us to pick out the clone.
Change is always resisted until it proves necessary. I would rather have sent clones over to Iraq than our children.
A subculture of clones would mean we have returned to the days of slavery again. If they can develop a genetic cat that turns red in ultravoilet light, they would have to develop a genetic marker to tell the clones from the real humans.
Definitely too many "what ifs" here. This is a very interesting subject. Reminds me of what should go into a time capsule if we ever had a nuclear melt down - cloned embros to restart the human race when the radiation levels dropped to a safe level.
There are a few people I would not like to see cloned in my life as well as history.
I wonder how do people clones other people
hey im jay, from auckland in NZ.
im doing a speech on 'Human Cloning' ...
just wondering if all this is true.. haha i dont wanna have to get up in front of my class and talk a whole lotta crapp!!! heh'
I would stick to material in the articles on this site - which I wrote - and to content of my videos, and to information in the comments people make that you can verify from the links / sources they quote. Good luck! Remember to post your notes here so others can learn from you.
if you were to lose a loved one and clone them, you would not have them back. they will not have those memories, they will not have the same personality and they will be raised to be someone they're not. i truly understand losing a loved one is heartbreaking, but in all honesty i cannot think of one human being that wants to be raised in a home to be a dead family memeber! the choices we have made in society, personal or general, always effects the future. this is a bad idea. clearly we're moving on from destroying the earth to destroying man kind. i'm not an activist, i can just see clearly what's going on because me and others who agree, at least on some term, are not blinded by the veil of greed and quest for perfection. same goes for animals. we were meant to be individual, live life as it was givin, not become some versions of a barbie doll house.
well at least you would be able to have a part of your loved one back even though they would not be the same, but possibly they could be the same if they were raised with the loved ones parents and treated the same and raised up the same.
Imagine if you were to live a life knowing that you have part of someone with you? why don't you let nature take its cause?if we were so clever from the beggining why din't we creat ourselves?its cristal clear that if we were to do it ourselves we would mess up big time,HE did't wait for years to see if we function well,it took HIM only a few months.
i think colining is bad as long as it's not the best way to increases size of humudty or love in the world the best way is to leave people genetics as they are as god would like to ofcouarse nothing can go on without permission from god, so since is given to human to increase the scince in best way not palying with natural and it's not a deal too, the best way to leave people who died or happened somthing to them not to clone cause to remember them in best way and in right way cause the soul in important not the body it's only sot=mthing varies durring time as seen theres lots things to say about that but it's deep subject needs really conclusions about it in best way to use scince ....etc.
huge physical and emotional risks to the babies created deformity and other development problems are very common. why would we want a cow to have human genes added so that the cows produced something similar to breast milk. two different speicies that a mutant or an alien NOT RIGHT, NOT MORAL. Every species is vulnerable to attack by bacteria, viruses or fungi so the same strain of virus that kills one animal would be likely to kill another. Every species relies on genetic variation to for resistance to disease and cloning would create real risks.
dolly the sheep is dead but when will we the people find out if it was natural dead or created for being cloned? what every happened to eve who was born in 2002? this informoation should be put out right away.
Human cloning is a good idea, but I'm not sure what cloning a complete human would achieve, We have no problem reproducing a new human being already naturally and creating a clone is doing exactly the same thing. And the child born would suffer a lot too, they'd be a celebrity from birth and would never be able to live a normal life and if the people creating these clones are thinking of using them for medical research I'm sure too many people would be against it, the child would need rights to be free and not be experimented on like a lab rat.
I think that their should be know cloning of everykind and just let nature take it course...Cuz would hav the clones hav the same rights as the Orignal....I mean like I belive in technolgy and all, but just not cloning......Would their be enough gentic divertsty??? is the world ready for every 1 2 look a like??
Human misery has been inundated with families that had been created naturally between man and woman. These men and women impede moral superiority, we uphold by our constitution and articles, to be preserved and progress. Human cloning will reveal the flaws in natural and primitive birthing system until now and clarify how selfish people who happened to be born with their superior genes got their ways over others who unfortunately hadn't. What I am talking about is that human cloning is the best way to populate the earth with best people anyone desires in the future.
great than i can get a clone of myself and live another life!!!
YES!
i think it is a good idea but now a days people are not so trasted & that may cause a evil or worse effect in near future.
cloning is bad... if you can cure someone by making a clone(of any human) and using stem cells, its just like living off slaves again. its just a morden slave trade. pushing others down to push your self up....
some of the greatest nations of history were built on the backs of slaves.
soon your dream will become real
our knowlege is going towards just you dreamed
this will called " youm a youbasoon"
cloning is stupid because what if you cloned you animal you wouldnt konw if it would take on the same genes you real animal had i mean shure if you cloned a human you would make alot of money but it is a stupid thing to do even if you could get rich thaat is being gready i mean what if you were cloned you wouldnt wont some one elts loveing your clone because that would make you feel bad thank you
this is Jade and Zac and we are super duperly amazing.
cloning is funnnyyyyyy.y
byeeeee x
I'm all for it, my brother past on a year ago, someone shot him in the head, he was 18, I would like a clone of him!
i think that is a good idea but if evry1 clond there lved ones the world would becom over poulated
