[extropy-chat] SotU and human cloning/modification

[The Avantguardian]

The Bushster by way of "Neil H."
<neuronexmachina at gmail.com> wrote:

> "A hopeful society has institutions of science and
> medicine that do not cut
> ethical corners, and that recognize the matchless
> value of every life.
> Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit
> the most egregious abuses
> of medical research — human cloning in all its forms
> ... creating or
> implanting embryos for experiments ... creating
> human-animal hybrids ... and
> buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human
> life is a gift from our
> Creator — and that gift should never be discarded,
> devalued, or put up for
> sale."


Meanwhile in the rest of the world . . .

http://www.unsw.edu.au/news/pad/media/2006/jan/Stem_Cell_MNE.html

Excerpt--------------------
In an Australian-first, a UNSW researcher based at the
Diabetes Transplant Unit at the Prince of Wales
Hospital has produced a human embryonic stem cell
(hESC) line without the use of any animal products.
The breakthrough eliminates the risk of
animal-to-human contamination in potential stem cell
therapy treatments. 

In another first, the Prince of Wales Hospital is the
first public institution in the country to extract
stem cells from human embryos produced using IVF in
infertile couples. 

"This is the first hESC line produced in Australia and
only the second one in the world, which does not use
animals in any way. Our line grows on human fetal
fibroblast feeder layer that does not require fetal
calf serum," said UNSW Senior Lecturer, Dr Kuldip
Sidhu, who was the scientist responsible for the
creation of the line.

"Other researchers have used animal tissue to keep the
hESC alive in the petri dish or as a culture to grow
it on," said Dr Sidhu. "Those animal products have the
potential to transmit retroviruses in humans, which
could have disastrous consequences." 

Human embryonic stem cell lines are derived from
specialized cells from embryos donated by infertile
couples that specifically consented for their excess
embryos to be used in stem cell research. 

These lines could eventually lead to safer treatments
for conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease,
spinal cord injury and even breast cancer. 
-------------End excerpt

I would like to add that the main reason that the U.S.
Federal Government's "approved human ES cell lines"
are useless is not so much because of retroviruses,
although they are a concern. It is instead that the ES
cells were grown on mouse feeder cells that
glycosylated proteins in the human ES cells to
resemble mouse proteins. So a human body with a
healthy immune system will reject anything grown from
these cells because it will mistake them as being from
non-human species.    

Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"Thereupon, the Soul of Mother Earth bewailed, Should I accept the support of a feeble man and listen to his words? In fact I desired the aid of a strong and mighty king. When shall such a person arise and bring strong-handed succor to me?" -Yasna 29, verse 9 

"Now I am light, now I am flying, now I see myself beneath myself, now a God dances through me." - St. Nietzsche

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com