Posted on 06/08/2005 11:31:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk said that the cloning of human beings would remain an impossible and dangerous fantasy for decades to come. "Human cloning is not only ethically outrageous and medically dangerous, but technically impossible as well," said Hwang, who last year created the world's first cloned human embryonic stem cells.
"Cloned human beings are merely a science fiction fantasy. I can assure you that on this globe, you'll never bump into a cloned human being at least within 100 years."
Hwang and his colleagues at Seoul National University made international headlines in February 2004 when they announced the first-ever cloning of human embryos, from which they harvested embryonic stem cells.
Hwang said he was dedicated to the pursuit of scientific research in a field that could provide huge health benefits despite raising ethical questions.
"I believe I'm doing what I should do as a scientist," Hwang told reporters here, declining to enter into a debate on concerns raised by pro-life activists and religious groups about the destruction of human embryos in embryonic research.
US President George W. Bush has threatened to veto any legislation that eases restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in the United States.
"I would hold myself responsible if these attacks against this research continue in 10 years' time," Hwang said, suggesting that ethical and religious concerns would be outweighed by the medical benefits obtained from the research.
ping
I dunno, if we can clone a sheep, then why not a human? It doesn't make sense that the one would be possible but the other would only be a fantasy. Personally I suspect that there probably already are a few human clones.
100 years away??..Damn!!
Sort of like the replicants on Blade runner...they live only a short time 5 years IIRC...
"Replicants - those of the Nexus 6 kind, anyway - are artificially created through genetic engineering. They're not mechanical robots, but rather more like clones. It is not entirely clear how they are created as this is not specifically explained in the film. It is also possible that previous Nexus series replicants were more robotic in the 'classic' sense; this is pure speculation, however, since no information is really given about them. What we do know about the Nexus 6 series is that they are engineered by genetic engineers, they are created from some sort of DNA and they are designed to be "More human than human." The likelihood is that this is thus some sort of cloning/replication technology that uses human DNA as a starting point.."
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