June 3, 2005

South Korea Cloning

"I never destroy any life during my process," said South Korean laboratory director Dr. Woo Suk Hwang, as he looks at a black-and-white screen. Magnified 250 times, the screen shows him the probe he uses to to inject the DNA of a skin cell into a human egg. Dr. Hwang recently reported that he had created new colonies of stem cells that matched the DNA of their donors. This is a major step towards growing replacement tissues to possibly treat spinal cord injuries, juvenile diabetes, and immune deficiencies.
By generally accepted definitions, Dr. Hwang is cloning. Many say Dr. Hwang is tampering with human life. But this is not the opinion of British, Japanese, Swedish, and Spanish researchers have all come to Seoul to see Dr. Hwang's work. American research institutions that are seeking collaborations with Dr. Hwang include Cornell, Johns Hopkins and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Link.

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