Now, who wants a cloned self?

[Guest Wellington]

Hi

So it seems that cloning a human is done and delivered! Apart from another proof that man's imbecility is, by far, the widest spread resource in the universe, this event is really meaningful. First of all, a "don't" is more likely to fall in a deaf man's ear. Second, after all the difficulties encountered for cloning little animals, it seems that cloning human is not a barrier. Third, not only terrorists do possess huge wealth and means of action around the world.

Of course, manipulating an egg or another can now be casual, almost old-fashion. But who can be that stupid to take the chance and give the green light? The animals showed clear signs of a physical dysfunction, but the scientists could have no clue about the mental/intellectual development of a clone. And I do not even write about ethical/moral/religious implications of such an experiment (for it is a mere lab experiment). Loonies may have their beliefs about it, scientists may take them as alibi, but there are also parents willing to risk a pregnancy for it, and before the 26th December, there were words of half a dozen pregnancies on schedule. What about them?

What makes me despair is that maybe such a lack of judgement may be the starting point for medical breakthrough. I guess that even those against cloning (and not willing to make any research for it) will have to acknowledge whatever result will come from it. And even work accordingly. It sounds a bit like when Pasteur invented vaccines. You needed a good deal of madness, luck and whisky to accept the injection of another disease as a remedy! However that was a breakthrough, and that was a century ago. Of course, Man builds on his errors to move forward, but I think too that he needs the right time to do it.

Bad luck, I have just heard at the news that another baby will soon be born in Europe. That is the second point of my thoughts: presumably no one has enough technology to clone humans, but birthes occur all around the globe!

To recap a bit what is around it (and sorry if it is not news for you), the scandal is not only ignited by ethical questions, but also by the implication of some sort of sect. The raelians, close neighbours of mine (the world is always too small). A French former car magazine journalist, Mr Vorhillon (aka Rael), decided one day that humans were genetically engineered by aliens and put on earth to grow and multiply. Beside taking all your money, raelians like to live in the hope that they would gain immortality by the means of cloning. In a recent interview, Rael (not accepting being called Vorhillon) denied any knowledge about Clonaid, its location nor financial sources. Problem is that Clonaid is managed by an adept of the sect... Trouble at t'mill... This Clonaid does not look like any Jackass' workshop: beside its laboratories and staff in North America, it has biological study offices in Asia too. So I guess it can be spread wider than this with the tricks of stock exchanges or whatever. Now, an organization rooted in religious beliefs with a hidden agenda... sounds familiar!  :)

For the funny bit: last autumn, raelians decided to make propaganda at schools in different towns in Quebec. There was no legal action that could have been taken in order to prevent them from contacting teenagers, but they got what they bargained for! They distributed papers explaining the benefits of the sect, asking that they give up the catholic religion, and giving some things to burn publicly as an act of faith. They finally got their own papers burned, and were quite well laughed at by the teens there. At least there is hope!

Regards

[The Old Man]

Hi Wellington,

I've missed the news recently. The last I saw/read was that someone was supposed to be conducting an impartial test to see if Cloneaid were telling the truth? Has this now happened?

BTW, I read that the cloning of human's in the UK is still illegal. Apparently you can clone an embryo but not allow it to reach fetal stage or be born.

It's certainly pretty scary stuff. I can imagine Criminals using clones to provide alibi's and all sorts of possibilities.

Remember during Force Majeure Cheryl Andrew's stating any competent Gynaecologist could perform such an project?

Regards,

The Old Man.

[Guest Wellington]

Hi

I cannot remember dates for the ADN test. But I am pretty sure that is no hoax: they already have very bad publicity and do not now need to be discredited. About the baby born on December 26th, they are truly secretive. Nothing is said about the parent couple whereabouts, and there is no affirmation that the baby girl is a clone of her mother. In fact, that would be clever enough for the safety and anonimity of the whole project.

These are some informations I gathered about Clonaid. It seems it is only 5 years old, so I guess it must be a haven for any crazed scientist wishing to make the news. It also seems to be no more tie with the raelian sect: the first fundations have been replaced by others, and if I am not mistaken, they are Vorhillon-free on the paper (although Vorhillon created Clonaid before handing it to one of his aides in 2000). The goal is to give a clone to everyone, so that they can achieve immortality. They expect that the next 20 years will allow to grow adult clones in a short time, so that all one will have to do is transfer his memories and personality before he dies. Personaly, I find this much more elegant than creating zombies of everyone...  :)  The next generation of clones would allow HIV carrying people to have babies without the risk of giving the virus to them (Clonaid cannot suffer from such humanitarian care). I do not know anything about the investors. The first pool had to be dissolved because the Bahamas did not want them on their soil, but they must be very resourceful given the re-allocation of the labs in a country where human cloning is not illegal (location undisclosed) and derivative companies around the world. If you want to create a clone, you will join the 250 others paying 200 000$. According to Clonaid, the American couple wanting a cloned baby were the main funders for the lab equipment needed. This lab was operational by 2001, and it seems to me they were very quick in their works to initiate a pregnancy less that 1,5 year later.

If 200 000$ sounds too much for you, a mere 200$ would allow you to preserve your own cells, thus your genetic materials, in order for later cloning or genetic repair of your body (once the way to make stem cells is reliable).

For 5000$, any infertile woman could get eggs chosen from a catalogue of pictures of the donors. And last, the funny bit: they will offer the ability to clone your own pet "in a near future"!

By the way, 9000$ is the cost of a cell fusion device, for those bored to death in their part time...

100 000$ will allow you to have rael itself make a speech in front of anyone.

They really are lucky not to have their address public. Seeing how passionate and lethal reactions can be in America about abortion, seeing how carelessly they work on human embryos when no debate on the matter, they are very lucky indeed.

Regards

[Guest]

.........this all sounds almost EXACTLY like the plot for the movie the sixth day-(title?) starring ahhnuld.   aside from that the whole concept of cloning makes me sick and convinced that we,as a race/species are doomed. perhaps deservedly           ~man oh man,

                                                   se7en

[voidprime]

In Alberta, Canada, a researcher has shown that new stem cells can grow in the brain if properly stimulated.   So cloned stem cells probably won't be needed for the brain.  Have a better one.

     :)