at one time, the following things were also considered immoral/unethical: organ transplants, blood transfusions, vaccinations, autopsies, artificial insemination, etcetera. And the moral/ethical arguments/outcries were similar to those today that surround stem cells/cloning. - quote

yes but we do these things when some thing is medically wrong not when things are right......

tina

series
 

Name would have to be "To clone or not to clone, that is the question!"

My thoughts
 

In my personal opinion it is still a little weird that we are cloning animals. That said I am not against it though. I do disagree with scientists that say "we can save so many endangered species." Aren't we limiting the gene pool for these animals and possibly creating other problems?
Would I clone either of my dogs that have passed. YES! My siberian husky was murdered by a couple of kids because they were harasing our next door neigbors and she protected their yard as part of her territory. They fed her rat poison and she was only two years old. She would deserve to have another chance at life. My uncle/godfather gave her to me for my 8th birthday when she was 9 months old. I helped him whelp her. I just wish I had had more time with her.
The husky that my mother had bought for my father when they got married in 1978... He was a good dog but, knowing the kind of health problems he would eventually inherit I would not clone him. He had really bad arthritis by 3yo and eye and ear problems by 5yo.
All-in-all it depends. If you know the animal is going to inherit medical problems down the road one should reconsider the idea of cloning an animal they love. Do you want to see him/her go through that again? Can you go through it personally again? And as has been discussed a lot of personality depends on environment. Are you prepared to have a dog that looks exactly the same with a different personality? There is just so much to think about.

:dogprints Trevor

This is a great description of the dilemma in the minds of many who contemplate this. We should take into consideration it's not the genetics, the bone, muscle, organs, and fur that we fall in love with. It's the spirit, the attitude, the personality that we become attached to and want more time with. The very thing that cannot be copied through cloning. We may have the ability to cause the birth of another very similar creature...but a completely different one in all of the ways that really matter.

The clone may have some of the personality traits that were desirable, but may also have flaws that weren't originally there. This could render him unfit for service while also tainting the remembrance of the original pet.

One of the things that makes life such a wonderful experience is that we can't control the outcome. We must learn to appreciate those we love and take advantage of the time we have together because it is limited. If you can have all you want of anything it will cease to be special.

Ok I admit it's weird, and I won't even bothering getting into any of the technical/scientific parts of it, but I do have to say that if I could clone my Steddy and Tator - OMG :eek: I would love that! I would love to have "them" with me forever :( Geez, wait until I tell my hubby about this....he is going to ask me where to sign up, HAHAHA! He is already freaking out because Stedman will be turning 3 :(

I agree !!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

[QUOTE=C C Kent;2170366]This is a great description of the dilemma in the minds of many who contemplate this. We should take into consideration it's not the genetics, the bone, muscle, organs, and fur that we fall in love with. It's the spirit, the attitude, the personality that we become attached to and want more time with. The very thing that cannot be copied through cloning. We may have the ability to cause the birth of another very similar creature...but a completely different one in all of the ways that really matter. [QUOTE]

CC Kent brings up a very valid point. There is no way that science can re-create the soul of a living thing. There is no basis for something like that to even be possible. The closest thing to it is having a dog clone, that will look exactly like it, but it would in the end be a completely different dog.

and where is it going? Read this article!
 

A chimera is, in this article, a mix of human and animal. It can also be a cross of two separate animals. Like a sheep and a goat, or as in this article, human and animal.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1555639/Chimera-embryos-have-right-to-life%2C-say-bishops.html

Chimera embryos have right to life, say bishops



By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
Last Updated: 10:40PM BST 19 Apr 2008
Comments 63 | Comment on this article
[LIST][*]Embryonic stem cells explained [/LIST]Human-animal hybrid embryos conceived in the laboratory - so-called “chimeras” - should be regarded as human and their mothers should be allowed to give birth to them, the Roman Catholic Church said yesterday.
Under draft Government legislation to be debated by Parliament later this year, scientists will be given permission for the first time to create such embryos for research as long as they destroy them within two weeks.
But the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, in a submission to the Parliamentary joint committee scrutinising the draft legislation, said that the genetic mothers of “chimeras” should be able to raise them as their own children if they wished.
The bishops said that they did not see why these “interspecies” embryos should be treated any differently than others.
The wide-ranging draft Human Tissue and Embryo Bill, which aims to overhaul the laws on fertility treatment, will include sections on test tube babies, embryo research and abortion. Ministers say that the creation of animal-human embryos - created by injecting animal cells or DNA into human embryos or human cells into animal eggs - will be heavily regulated.
They insist that it will be against the law to implant “chimeras” - named after the mythical creature that was half man and half animal - into a woman’s womb.
The bishops, who believe that life begins at conception, said that they opposed the creation of any embryo solely for research, but they were also anxious to limit the destruction of such life once it had been brought into existence.
In their submission to the committee, they said: “At the very least, embryos with a preponderance of human genes should be assumed to be embryonic human beings, and should be treated accordingly.
“In particular, it should not be a crime to transfer them, or other human embryos, to the body of the woman providing the ovum, in cases where a human ovum has been used to create them.
“Such a woman is the genetic mother, or partial mother, of the embryo; should she have a change of heart and wish to carry her child to term, she should not be prevented from doing so.”
The draft Bill will also allow the screening of embryos for genetic or chromosomal abnormalities that might lead to serious medical conditions, disabilities, or miscarriage. It will permit doctors to check whether an embryo could provide a suitable tissue match for a sibling suffering from a life-threatening illness.
The Bill would abolish the requirement for fertility clinics to consider the need for a father when deciding on treatment. This means clinics will no longer be able to deny treatment to lesbians and single mothers.
The Catholic bishops said that most of the procedures covered by the Bill “should not be licensed under any circumstances”, principally on the grounds that they violate human rights.

______________________________________________

From Wikipedia:

During November 2006, UK researchers from Newcastle University and King's College London applied to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year license to fuse human DNA with cow eggs. The proposal is to insert human DNA into a cow's egg which has had its genetic material removed and then create an embryo by the same technique that produced Dolly the Sheep. The resulting embryo would be 99.9% human; the only bovine element would be DNA outside the nucleus of the cell.[citation needed] This research was attempted in the United States several years before and failed to yield such an embryo. In April 2008 the researchers from Newcastle University reported that their research had been successful. The resulting embryos lived for 3 days and the largest grew to a size of 32 cells. The researchers are aiming for embryos that live for 6 days so that embryonic stem cells can be harvested.

Did you guys see the follow-up story to the woman who cloned her dog?

Owner of cloned dog accused of abducting man 31 years ago - Columbia Missourian

Oh my gosh!! I read about it too! Strange woman.

Pit bull's cloner 'kidnapped Mormon missionary'

Very strange. The British tabloids are having a field day with it. They had more details on the missionary ordeal, even saying she used fur-lined handcuffs. :p

It doesn't surprise me that someone would try to dig up something from her past to make her look like an unstable looney person. And boy, did they! If what's in those articles is true, it seems to me that she cloned those puppies not for the reasons she previous mentioned, but to somehow call attention to herself. Instead of being the bad guy, she is now the victim. Either way, I think she's going to have a surprise when those puppies finally grown up. They won't be the dogs she wanted them to be.

I really don't think someone was trying to 'dig up dirt' but that her image was everywhere and folks that knew her 'back then' recognized her. I feel that if she is that same person, it was foolish on her part to step into the limelight. She can't have it both ways. Fame for one thing, anonymity for the other. Life just doesn't work that way.

I completely understand and respect your opinion, but doesn't it seem strange to you that whenever anyone steps into the stoplight, whether good or bad, there is always someone who tries to get a scandolous story about this person's past? It's happened over and over, to people who are good bad and in between.

Of course, in no way shape or form am I trying to defend her. I don't agree with anything that's she's doing, but I was just making an observation.

How freaky. It says she has the same dob and ssn as the wanted person. If it's her it was pretty stupid. She could have used that money for attorney fees, now she's out the money and the pups when she goes to jail. I loved the last line, cracked me up.

Years ago, Stamey said, McKinney was a beautiful girl worthy of the Miss Wyoming USA crown.

"She's ugly as sin now," he said. "But, sure enough, that's her."

I don't think anyone went digging for dirt on her. She was recognized from the paper in the area where she is wanted and where she jumped bail.