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. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8450