Kaiser funny
The Kaiser Network is a pro-abortion, pro-embryo/cloning research organization that distributes a daily report on health policy from that slanted perspective.
Today’s was the funniest ever….
The group Cures Without Cloning on Wednesday filed a ballot proposal with the Missouri Secretary of State seeking to modify a state constitutional amendment that protects human embryonic stem cell research….
The amendment – titled the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative and approved by Missouri voters in November 2006 – ensures that stem cell research permitted under federal law is protected in the state and prohibits human cloning.
It also allows stem cell research that involves somatic cell nuclear transfer, which some opponents consider a type of human cloning. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is conducted by inserting the genetic material from a patient’s cell – usually from a skin cell – into an unfertilized egg from another person. The patient’s genetic material incorporates into the egg and causes it to develop into an embryo that is a genetic match to the skin cell patient….
“Some opponents”? How about, “All scientists”? Good definition, though.
Hey, Kaiser, you make it sound as if there is more than one “type of human cloning.” Care to name another?
Ah, thanks for the Friday afternoon funny.
[Illustration courtesy of the Reproductive Cloning Network]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Jill,
There are several types of cloning: somatic cell nuclear transfer (or “reproductive cloning” is one type. (Note that the result is not a “true” clone because the mitochondrial DNA will differ from the cellular DNA.) This is how Dolly the sheep was made and the representative from Cures Without Cloning is exactly right about that.
Recombinant DNA cloning is another type of cloning.
“Therapeutic” cloning involves the process of extracting stem cells from a blastocyst after its 5th day of division. The extraction process destroys the embryo. You’ve got to admire the baldness of the euphemism “therapeutic”: after all, it’s not therapeutic to the embryo that is destroyed in the process.
See the Human Genome Project for more information on the different types of cloning:
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml#whatis
Another type of cloning is parthenogensis. Parthenogensis is when a female egg is caused to divide and become an embryo all by itself, without male fertilization. The result is a “clone” of the mother. This happens in nature, usually with animals that have been in isolation for many years or without their opposite gender, but not normally in mammals. The animal makes a copy of its own DNA for reproductive purposes. In mammals, there is not usually enough DNA, the baby mammal does not develop normally and is generally doomed to die.
http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_sc/mb/HX1PE151.PDF
Remember that South Korean scientist who fraudulently claimed to have cloned a human being? It was recently announced that he and his team may have accidentally discovered how to make parthenogenetic human cells.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwang_Woo-Suk#Parthenogenesis
Some scientists now feel that this will solve the ethical issues with embryonic stem cell research. For what it’s worth, I do not share their optimistic and rosy assessment. Parthenogenesis has ethical problems similar to the other types of human cloning.
So, there are different methods of cloning. Kaiser’s right about that.
From a great movie: “There can be only one.”
Kaiser Soze is eternal.
AP, thanks for that information. That’s crazy about Hwang, eh?
You’re most welcome, Jill. I’ve admired your blog for years now and I would hate to see you misunderstand the current state of the science. If we’re going to fight against this, we have to arm ourselves with all the facts and with science, as well as our mutual belief in Christ.
Yes, it really is crazy. You just can’t make this stuff up.