Politics
Thursday October 21, 2004
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
UK Scientists Go Ahead with Human Cloning While UN Debates
NEWCASTLE, October 21, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - While the debate goes on at the United Nations whether to prohibit only some cloning, or all of it, scientists in the UK are moving forward. Prof Alison Murdoch and Dr Miodrag Stojkovic of the Centre for Life at Newcastle-upon-Tyne have received permission to go ahead with cloning experiments and have done the preparatory work. Dr Stojkovic is using spare eggs, left over from IVF treatments. "I have done the first manipulation with human eggs," he said.
The British government has assured the scientists that their work will continue no matter what the UN decides to do. Britain has one of the world's most openly permissive cloning laws that not only allows the creation of in vitro embryos, that is embryos created by sexual process of the meeting of sperm and ova, but of cloned embryos. The scientists are already complaining that the available material, ova from IVF clinics, are unsuitable. Prof. Murdoch said of the ova available, which are a day or two old, "The quality is pretty awful."
The UK research proposes to create cloned embryos to serve as stem cell farms to treat diseases such as diabetes. However, many experts say that it is doubtful that any cures can come of such unreliable methods. One US bioethics expert, Dr. Dianne Irving, has been a vocal critic of what she calls the lingusitic deceptions employed by researchers to make such experiments legal, such as the adoption of the fictitious term 'pre-embryo.'
The scientists at the Centre for Life justify the cloning of human embryos to avoid the problem of immune system rejection, but experiments with embryonic stem cells have shown that rejection is the least of the problems.
Past trials with embryonic stem cells have resulted in disasterous, irreversible side effects for patients related to the cells propensity for 'wild' unstoppable growth and for turning unexpectedly into the wrong kind of tissue. Irving comments, "I hope Great Britain has unambiguously assured any patients receiving any such 'treatments' that they will have competent and free follow-up medical care should they experience any physical or psychological harm - or death - because of the injection of such stem cells."
Telegraph coverage:
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/1...
ph
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Interview: Bishop Expands on Why a Bishop "Would Consider It a Privilege to Die Tomorrow to Bring about an End to Abortion"
- Brazilian Psychologists Prohibited from Helping Catholic Church Screen Out Homosexual Priesthood Candidates
- Poll Shows a Solid Majority of Canadians Want Legal Protection for Unborn Children
- Terri-Schiavo-Like Disabled Woman Allowed to Live after Parents Reconcile
- US Election Message to Catholic Bishops Part III: The Broken Window Strategy
- California Supreme Court to Hear Anti-Prop. 8 Cases
- Arnold Schwarzenegger's Wife: I'm "a Catholic in Good Standing" But Also Pro-abortion and Pro-Homosexual
- London Couple Refused for Adoption over Spanking...Again
- Ontario School Board Flip Flops on HPV Vaccine Decision
- Vatican Cardinal: "A New World Order is Gaining Ground"
- German Court Orders Children to Be Returned to Homeschooling Family against State Advice
- The View Co-Host Calls Homeschoolers “Demented”
- Donate to LifeSiteNews.com Simply by Surfing the Internet!
- Letters to the Editor for Thursday, November 20, 2008
Most Read this Week
- Italian Nuns Refuse to Kill Eluana
- Lawsuits Proliferate Demanding Proof of Obama's Natural-Born Citizenship before Electoral Vote Count
- Charleston Priest Tells Obama-Supporting Catholics to Confess before Receiving Communion Again
- Christian Prayer Group Sexually and Physically Assaulted by Homosexual Mob
- Mormons, Knights of Columbus Face Chilling Threats and More Vandalism for Prop. 8 Support
- The Coming "War" Between the Obama Administration and the Catholic Church
- Update: Nationwide Homosexual Anarchist Organization Behind Attack on MI Church Planning Further Disruptions
- Vatican Cardinal: "A New World Order is Gaining Ground"
- Martin Luther King's Niece: Obama Election Heals "White Guilt" at the Cost of Life and Family
- HLI Leader's Reflection on the Election: "The Beginning of the Twilight of Our Country"
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.