SEOUL, South Korea - Pioneer South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk and his research colleagues have succeeded in cloning a dog, a global first that extends the remarkable string of laboratory successes by the Seoul National University professor.
Last year, Hwang's team created the world's first cloned human embryos. They followed that in May by creating the first embryonic stem cells that genetically match injured or sick patients.
Now, they've come up with Snuppy, an Afghan hound, now 14 weeks old, that Hwang's research colleague, Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, called "a frisky, healthy, normal, rambunctious puppy."
And now, the paragraph the writer shouldn't have bothered including, as no one is going to pay it the slightest bit of attention:
The goal of Hwang and his team, who reported their achievement Wednesday in the journal Nature, isn't to reproduce lovable pooches but to find ways to eventually help treat human diseases by creating a reliable research model.
This is a remarkable step forward in the research, and an incredible event (not to mention very interesting). Hwang and his team are working miracles, science-wise. However, this is driving me insane, because I know every pro-life wingnut is going to grab onto this news like the last slice of pizza. The "human cloning" bugaboo is a tired, old, bad sci-fi movie scare tactic that the wingers love to use to spook people away from stem-cell research. "Save the bebbehs" doesn't really work when you're talking about a little blob of cells, and the potential for amazing life-saving techniques is very powerful, so... wheel out the big scary monster!
Of course, no one is proposing we clone human beings, nor are we even close to doing such a thing:
Monkeys are the closest model to humans and they are crucial to medical research, but Hwang told reporters Wednesday that cloning a monkey "is technically impossible at the moment."
Nor are they trying to. The dog cloning was all about creating a reliable research model. But I suppose hoping the goofballs will understand the meaning of that, and applying it to this situation, is pointless. After all, the meaning of scientific theory is apparently still beyond their grasp.
I'm really happy about the advances being made in stem-cell research (and so quickly, too!). I'm just not looking forward to the pointless "no, they're not trying to clone humans, this isn't "The Island," you morons" arguments.
Oh, and to the first rich asshole that gets his dog cloned: Drop dead. There are plenty of dogs out there that need homes.
Keep up the good work, Hwang.
(Cross-posted, check it and see... got a fever of 103)
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