X-Message-Number: 8450
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 08:29:22 -0700
From: Peter Merel <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #8448 - #8449

Thomas Donaldson writes,

>At least among cryonicists I've not seen anyone with moral problems about
>cloning.

I'll chime in with a qualm. I have no problem with organ-farming transgenic
animals or bodies without minds, but I'd certainly be opposed to raising
sentient clones for their organs. Call me paranoid if you like, but events
this century suggest humans are not above such an act. Hell, we've already
seen organlegging come to pass, if only on a small scale and only in
the third world.

I hasten to add this qualm is outweighed in my mind by the tremendous
benefits we should expect from cloning technology.

>As for the news report, it may not be good data. As I understand it, the cells
>to be cloned were taken from embryos --- unlike Dolly, who was created from
>the cells of an adult sheep.

I think you're mistaken. The reports I read said there were two 
simultaneous press releases, one from a (japanese?) group that has cloned
200 animals from a single embryo, and one from an american group that has
about 10 clones from an adult Holstein. I read the Americans used mature 
cells from the adult's skin and udder. I don't know why udders seem to 
figure so prominently in all this.

>One other recent development has been the ability, at least in frogs, to grow
>single organs rather than whole animals. THAT really will be useful, if we
>can get it to work for humans. And not just in cryonics, either.

I hadn't spotted that one - how do they do it?

Peter Merel.

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