Politics
Thursday October 21, 2004
UK Scientists Go Ahead with Human Cloning While UN Debates
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
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/2004/10/20/nclon20.xml
ph
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- BREAKING: US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 to 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Today
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- Major Health Care Bill Development - Stupak Hyde Amendment Vote OK'd
- Canadian MP Launches Petition to Stop Federal Funding of Planned Parenthood
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.