I’m not trying to mislead anyone. (???)
Interestingly enough, the New Scientist article references the Nature report.
Nature (vol 428, p 860)
But, here’s the link,
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v428/n6985/abs/nature02402.html
You’d better read the report from the original post:
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/clo.2007.0033
There’s no SCNT in this technique. No one’s removing anything from the oocyte.
I don’t believe that parthenogenesis is technically “cloning.” The nuclear material comes from the donor, but it’s not a complete set, it’s not a copy of the donor.
And, I should have said “centrosome,” not centromere, but there’s evidence supporting the idea that the sperm contributes that first organization of the chromosomes, leads to the development of the microtubules, and eventually to the position of centromeres,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16467269&dopt=Abstract
http://ror.reproduction-online.org/cgi/content/abstract/2/1/19
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8711211&dopt=Abstract
Yes, it does make a difference, centrosome or centromere. But, even the idea that the centrosome is provided by the sperm is controversial. Human oocytes have centrioles, just like every other cell, and not everybody agrees that they are there just "for the looks". If I have time, I'll dig out some references later on. But for now, somebody else in this thread put it really good: if you are creating a handicapped embryo, that still does not give you the right to destroy it (or make sure it self-destroys).
You and I can disagree on whether this process is cloning (it's just a matter of semantics) and on whether or not the embryo formed is a human being (if it wasn't human, there would be no interest in using it to "treat" human diseases), but you have to agree with one thing: in case of doubt you ought to give it the benefit of the doubt, maybe it is a human embryo, maybe it has the inalienable right to life (given to him by his Creator, not by a researcher). So you are most likely killing a human being, for what? Nothing! That's the sad part of this discussion. Like I said before, there hasn't been a single cure using embryonic stem cells, while adult stem cells are already helping people. So, I have to wonder why the obsession with using embryos, what is your real agenda.