[Professor Wilmut explained that he regularly phones Jinky.] When a friend is ill, you normally ask 'How are you?' But with ALS, I have learned not to do that. When I last asked Jimmy, he said ... He had already lost his legs. Just think for a moment about the implications of that. |
I am sure that they did make good steps forward and derive cell lines. |
I do believe that Hwang's laboratory achieved what they described, but then were careless. |
I personally have still not heard a potential use of this technique, to produce a new person, that I would find ethically acceptable, ... ...on that basis, I hope that you're wrong. |
I think now to contemplate using our present technique with humans would be quite inhuman, |
If we wait until things are totally tested and analyzed in animals, it will deny some people that treatment. |
It is a key component of the international effort to co-operate in research rather than compete, |
It is not possible to think of a way of screening out effectively the most appropriate embryos, and hence, what we should expect would be late abortions -- either occurring spontaneously or being induced deliberately in the second or third trimester of pregnancy -- in order to prevent the birth of abnormal children, |
potentially many thousands of animals. |
So far, no scientist has been able to specifically turn any adult stem cell population into good populations of motor-neuron cells. Remember that ALS patients tend to die within four years. Opponents of therapeutic cloning need to remember that we do not have time to waste. |
Successful cloning of an increasing number of species confirms the general impression that it would be possible to clone any mammalian species, including humans. |
We would welcome any rules for an international agreement of any kind to prohibit this work. I think you shouldn't underestimate the difficulties of this research, |