Stem cell research

read this and got frustrated again. A little science goes a looooong way. To clone a human being you must:

1. Be very very rich

2. Take a human egg, remove the nucleus (only 23 chromosome).

3. Then, replace said nucleus with a complete nucleus (all 46 chromosome).

4. Trick it into dividing. Form a blastula (a hollow ball of identical cells)

5. Here's the really important part- convince it to differentiate- different parts of the DNA in EACH of those cells must turn on so that the cells become a different part of the human body: heart, brain, spinal cord, etc.)

6. Implant that ball of cells in the uterus of a woman who shares DNA with the complete nucleus.

7. Wait 40 weeks for said woman to go into labor and give birth. The complete nucleus donor and the new baby will be genetically identical, but not the same since they will develop in completely different uterine environments.

Here's what science can do: make these cells become 1 thing- heart cells, bladder cells, skin cells

We can, and regularly do,clone other animals besides humans. Been doing it for years with livestock. BIG money there. We cannot clone humans, our DNA is too complex, we cannot get it to differentiate. I don't know why.

Do I think we need to be very, very careful? Oh hell, yes! But stopping research, or hindering it, is not the answer.

Of course, I also think we need to be careful how many people we save because of population control. If we cure all disease, what's to keep our world population in check? War and famine aren't enough any more.