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On the day Korea¡¯s stem cell pioneer Dr. Hwang Woo-suk announced the
first successful cloning of a dog, U.S. President George W. Bush
reiterated his resolve to veto federal support for embryonic stem cell
research. "I'm confident that I have achieved the right balance between
science and ethics,¡± Bush told a group of eight newspapers at his ranch
in Crawford, Texas on Wednesday. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill calling
on federal government to fund stem cell research from human embryos
remaining at fertility clinics, on which the Senate will decide after
the summer vacation. Lawmakers ¡°have the prerogative to pass laws. I
have the prerogative to set limits on what I think is right," Bush
said. The process requires the destruction of the embryos. The Washington Post on Thursday said Dr. Hwang¡¯s cloning of a
dog showed a cloned pet market, where people can ¡°replace¡± an animal
they have lost to the grim reaper, was not as far off as people
believed. The paper said Hwang's success leapfrogged seven years and
millions of dollars of efforts in the U.S. and confirmed Korea as the
center of cloning and stem cell research.
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Korean stem cell pioneer Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, center, Ian Wilmut of the
University of Edinburgh, left, and Gerald Schatten of the University of
Pittsburgh School of Medicine gather at Seoul National University¡¯s
College of Veterinary Medicine on Thursday./Yonhap
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But the vice president of the group People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, Mary Beth Sweetland, was quoted as saying, "The
cruelty and the body count outweigh any benefit that can be gained
from¡± cloning animals. The paper also reported concerns that rogue
scientists could use Hwang's research results to clone human beings. The New York Times gave a detailed account of Hwang's research
results, saying that while cloning scientists appeared in awe of
Hwang's success, others were less so. Nigel Cameron, a bio-ethics
specialist at Chicago-Kent College of Law, told the paper some people
thought of dogs as members of the family and said the line should be
drawn at cloning farm animals and lab mice. In Europe, too, there were voices of admiration and concern.
The BBC said scientists ¡°hope dog clones will help them understand and
treat a range of serious human diseases," but also raised ethical
issues.
The president of the British Veterinary Association, Dr. Freda
Scott-Park, told the broadcaster, "No one can deny that techniques that
advance our understanding of diseases and their therapy are to be
encouraged. But cloning of animals raises many ethical and moral issues
that have still to be properly debated within the profession."
The Financial Times was unenthusiastic. "Since Dolly the cloned
sheep appeared nearly a decade ago, the field has advanced less than
scientists had hoped," it said.
The Japanese press looked at the expectations for medical
developments that could result from the Korean team's success and
wondered whether the results could be turned into a successful business
model.
"The Seoul National University team overcame the difficulty in
obtaining mature dog eggs,¡± the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. As with
cloned cats, the Hwang technique ¡°will help produce model animals that
suffer from aging and diseases," it added.
The Mainichi Shimbun said the cloning of a dog came late since
compared to the advanced state of research into the reproductive
process of cows and mice, research results for dogs were few. ¡°It was
the result of the accumulation of research on the maturation process of
dog eggs," it added. The Asahi Shimbun citing expert opinion wrote,
"Since the success rate of cloning dogs is much lower than for cats,
without marked improvement, it would be difficult to turn the results
into a successful business."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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