When the Homily is about Immunology

Human Cloning

A friend asked me to comment on THIS news story. Here is what I said:

There are a lot of holes in the news account. I am presently looking for the actual paper and have had no luck. It may take some time to get online. BUT...something smells fishy:

"I think this construct is not an embryo," he said. "There is no fertilization in our process. We use nuclear transfer technology. I can say this result is not an embryo but a nuclear transfer construct."

Ahem...ummm...all four of my children (please note overt reference to my fecundity) underwent "Nuclear transfer". What do these boneheads think happens when a sperm enters into an egg? Well, let me tell you what happens: the nuclear material of my sperm cell joins the nuclear material (aka DNA) of the egg cell...presto: human being.

Just because they are doing it synthetically and starting with an "empty cell" (no nuclear material) and then inserting all of the nuclear material (as opposed to half as would be the case during "natural nuclear transfer") doesn't - in my mind - make it less of an embryo.

This is cloning, plain and simple. They are just not allowing the embryos to grow to the natural extent that they are "programmed" to.

"There is no reason ever to believe one of these things could ever become a human being," said Magnus, who with Cho wrote a commentary on the work.

Ummm...yeah right...its akin to saying that there is no reason ever to believe that a child held underwater for several hourse could ever become an adult.

"Even for people that believe that potentiality is the key to personhood, these things, whatever they are, they are not people."

So...we don't know what these things are...but they aren't people. Well, we know the truth about solyent green! This is one of the most frightening quotes I have heard in a very long time.