Monday, May 23, 2005

Koreans Report Ease in Cloning for Stem Cells

South Korean researchers are reporting today that they have developed a highly efficient recipe for producing human embryos through cloning, and then extracting their stem cells.

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers, led by Dr. Woo Suk Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon of Seoul National University, said they used their method to produce 11 human stem cell lines that were genetic matches of patients who ranged in age from 2 to 56.

The method, called therapeutic cloning, is one of the great hopes of the stem cell field. It produces stem cells, universal cells that are extracted from embryos, killing the embryos in the process, and that, in theory, can be directed to grow into any of the body's cell types.

This is good news, but I don't think America will see any benefit from this research anytime soon. An article in the New York Times entitled "In Rare Threat, Bush Vows Veto of Stem Cell Bill". The president expressed concerns about a report that South Korean researchers have developed a method of cloning human embryos to extract stem cells that, theoretically, could be used to develop treatments that are exact genetic matches for patients.

The House bill, which is limited in scope, does not address cloning. Bush said "I'm very concerned about cloning. "I worry about a world in which cloning becomes acceptable."

I think Bush's statement is just more propaganda to appease his rightwing conservative evangelical Christian base. Hey Bush, what about worrying about a world that allows others to be killed, tortured in the name of religion, profits, etc? I guess it is ok to kill people as long as they are alive. What hypocrisy...
posted by Cynthia   Permalink| Comments(2)|

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