The creator of Dolly the sheep has been granted a licence to clone human embryos for medical research. Professor Ian Wilmut and Kings College London scientists will clone early stage embryos to study motor neurone disease (MND). This is the second time the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has given such permission. Critics maintain that testing human embryos is immoral. Others question the potential benefits of the work. Professor Wilmut said it will mean MND can be studied in unprecedented detail. Therapeutic cloning for research has been legal in the UK since 2001 and it would be only the second time the authority has given consent.The professor's team was the first to apply for a therapeutic cloning licence in the country. Up until now, scientists have wanted to create cloned embryos to see if they can be grown into tissues to repair damaged body parts. But Professor Wilmut's proposal is different as he does not plan to grow healthy replacement tissue. Instead he aims to deliberately clone embryos that have MND from patients who have the condition.

Professor Wilmut, of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, says cells from the embryos can be used to study how the disease progresses in very close detail. He also said the cells can be used to try out new drugs to see if they stop the disease from progressing. MND is caused by the death of cells - called motor neurones - that control movement in the brain and spinal cord.

View: Full Article | Source: BBC News

Great news

We have to defeat illness and stop millions from dying all the time!

Lets think about it.

Whats more important...


A few cells the size of about the HEAD of a pin or you , your family, your friends and your fellow humans that are ILL and alive on this planet today.

People who are against this research dont understand and dont have to live with these diseases, but mark my words, THEY WILL NEED IT IN THEIR LIFE!

Anyway..

Very good news

maybe i missed something but i thought cloning humans was against the law

personally im all for it when i need an organ i want my perfect match to give it to me

i just thought this thing wasnt aloud

wont there be backlash from the religious groups ?

Its not cloning a human, its cloning an embryo... meaning they never get passed 14 days so they do not grow into a brain n stuff.. They let it grow till its about the size of a head of a pin..

its not exactly having hanging babies in a factory and pulling out there organs lol when we need them.

Its just a few cells that are microscopic in size

Isn't this proof, that something created US ? If now we know that we can create an embryo? As far as living with a disease, everyone has the experience of experiencing, everything - if you believe in reincarnation

Huh? How on earth do you conclude that this proof that we were created by gods?

I'm stunned by this logic. We are not "creating" the embryo in the sense of Biblical Creation. We are taking an existing, living, egg cell and replacing its DNA with the DNA of a living human. That's very different than making a living human being out of a handful of clay. Even if one day we figure out how to make life from non-living material, that will be proof that gods aren't needed to explain life. You have this all exactly backwards.

We can make fire. By your logic, that's just also proof that we were created by gods.

Some people just find it hard that something can be created without the help of some devine entity i suppose. Which is okay, it is very difficult to understand. That's how religion was created in the first place, to give people answers, reguarless of fact or fiction.

This news is terrific in my opinion. Imagine the immunities we could come up with in the near future, having a limitless supply of human embryos to work with.

You're talking about a zygote.

The embryo stage takes place between 2 and 8 weeks of pregnancy.

Just imagine the population of earth increasing dramatically. I tend to think sickness and disease limits our population like any other living species on this earth; taking away sickness will go against nature. In essences, no more survival of the fittest for humans..

Although i see the good in this, i deem there will always be something bad where there's something good. The black and the white, the ying and the yang.

That's backwards. Human population increases in response to bad conditions. The nations with the greatest population growth have the worst conditions. Europe and USA have negative population growth. Fewer people are being born than are dying in those areas. Only immigration is keeping the populations from declining.

The best way to control population growth is to raise the standard of living, medical care and education of all people around the globe, especially women. When people have control over their lives they have the kids they want, not the kids desperation tells them they need.

"and god created man in his own image"

we havent had survival of the fittest in the human race for hundreds of years

yay....more people will be alive than before!! Lets flood this world with our own bodies!

Well, on a slightly related topic, a US fertility clinic is being sued for "wrongful death" of a fertalized frozen zygote that was mistakenly destroyed by a lab worker who accidently threw the frozen container out with another batch that was scheduled to be destroyed.

As the egg was fertalized, a judge felt that the zygote had the right to life guaranteed under the constitution...

Although it doesn't fit the criminal description of a murder, it does fit the legal description of "wrongful death" and therefore the couple that had donated the egg/sperm are suing for unspecified damages.

It appears that this would set a precedence that could possibly allow for lawsuits in all kinds of aspects of fertility treatment, as well as abortion issues. It could really change things...

you are going to need stem cell treatment too buddy, so shush

Heheheehe...I don't use logic Don't get me started on logic .
I was not talking about being made in the 'biblical sense', out of clay. I am simply saying that something with a higher intelligence created us. This is just an example of how we are becoming, more intelligent in this area of science Closer to the Creator, of this place we call earth and its inhabitants...call it God, if you wish

Evolution into gods?
Now that's something to think about.

oppenhiemer wasnt a god- he created fire, mans basic need
(lesson one before the wheel), who says we were created by a higher "being"?

I do; however, I am part of that higher being And so are you Even if you don't want to be

I personally am made of STAR DUST and and my parts have been around for Billions of years.

The last 26 Married. ( And you say theres no HELL)

Anyway the local news says some one is starting a CAT Cloning business in Wisconsin. Like we need more Cats! If I se an article I will pass it along.

That scares me. Clones made so far often have genetic flaws. If we start making clones of cats, some of the cloned cats will have flawed genes that will get out into the cat population. If the clones are spayed before being released to the buyers, fine. That's why I am dead set against human cloning, or at least allowing the zygotes to get past the stage where they're just a few cells. If cloned humans grow to adulthood, genetic diseases never before seen could enter the gene pool. We have enough plagues. We don't need to make more of them.

If we get good enough at cloning that we can be sure we're not making flawed copies, that's another story. I haven't finished working out the morality of cloning humans. Make a genetic copy of a beloved spouse who died too young? Creepy! We have plenty of humans. I can see cloning cheetas and other animals about to go extinct. There's no lack of humans yet.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20..._catclones.html

yes they have cloned cats as pets

Good catch ET,s Daddy, One question. How many GLOW FISH dose one have to eat before your girl friend can see you in the dark?

I am against cloning humans at the present time, cloning humans is a seperate issue from cloning embryos.

although I dont live in the U.S president bush is trying to ban all this research. which is a shame cos they have a lot of money and could contribute a lot to curing with stem cells.

looks like the U.S is going to be left behind

On behalf of America, I apologize for Bush. I don't understand how that imbicile religious fanatic got elected the first time. There's no excuse for his second election.

I'm sorry.