Stem Cells Reborn

[DIGSox]

I came across an article from Technology Review titled "Stem Cells Reborn". It discusses how researchers are renewing their race to clone stem cells after the shocking fraud case of Hwang Woo Suk in South Korea, which by now I'm sure that most have heard of.

 

The article finds that success could mean a new era of more realistic disease models and safer, life-saving regenerative medicine. Now, six months after details of the fraud emerged, ACT and groups at Harvard University and the University of California, San Francisco, among others, are gearing up to start new therapeutic-cloning programs.

 

I can only imagine the ethical issues that are bound to arise.

 

If you’re interested, check out the article here: http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16813&ch=biotech

[mooeypoo]

Wow, ethical issues in this are breathtaking.

 

I can't avoid but remembering the movie "Gattaca".. are we about to "eliminate deseases" and "create better humans" while actually creating a new "HighSociety"? Yikes.

 

I also have to wonder if this is not going to end up biting us in the ass at the end. How far can we really play with "nature" without having it play back..? It's known - or theorized, at least - the nature aspires for constant balance. As was said and shown in "Jurassic Park" - mother nature always finds the balance. I wonder if we're not openning a crack here for a new type of genetic deseases.. there IS (sadly) a point to deseases, so perhaps if we "eliminate" most known ones, we're creating the unknown harder to fight with ones..

 

scary.

 

~moo