X-Message-Number: 18879 Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 23:49:27 +1000 From: Damien Broderick <> Subject: Re: #18876: Therapeutic cloning debate [RoyJYowell] At 10:00 AM 3/31/02 -0000, RoyJYowell wrote: >I would like to propose a solution to the therapeutic cloning debate. The >religious right is up in arms over "Creating life and destroying it for the >benefit of others." >So...why not cryonic suspend the cloned embryo after a small number of stem >cells are removed! More to the point, and more realistically right now, why not harvest a few stem cells and then allow the embryo to proceed on its developmental path and implant it at the appropriate stage into a waiting and prepared mother-to-be? We know that the clump of barely differentiated cells at that early stage of near-totipotency can readily recover from the loss of a few cells without a hiccup--indeed, spontaneous processes can split the little thing down the middle and yield two perfect twins. Routine testing for normalcy of in vitro embryos already uses this sort of sampling process, with no ill effects. I'm not recommending such casuistical nonsense, of course, since the sole motive is a bizarre 13th century Scholastic perversion of reason, but for those afflicted with this antique opinion it seems to me a plausible solution satisfactory to all parties (except those who remain adamantly opposed to any in vitro conceptions, which I gather still includes the Pope and possibly several other infallible authorities). Damien Broderick Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18879