Cloning and Genetic Modification
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Current Events
Cyborg bugs and glow-in-the-dark cats: How we're engineering animals
Apr. 1, 2013 -
- GloFish, which are zebrafish that have been genetically engineered to contain a fluorescent protein gene, are sold as pets in 49 states.
This article discusses the many new developments in the area of genetic engineering and the ethical issues that are being raised by them.
- Source: CNN
World's first GM babies born
June, 2012 - Some thirty healthy babies have been born in the U.S. in recent years after infertile mothers' eggs were infused with
extra genes from another woman's cells.
- Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, the researchers, led by fertility pioneer Professor Jacques Cohen, say that this
'is the first case of human germline genetic modification resulting in normal healthy children'.
Two of the babies have been tested and found to contain genes from three 'parents'. The announcement has
caused fierce debate among genetic scientists, most of whom do not believe it is ethical to tamper with the DNA. They fear that this method
could be used to create new races of humans who are stronger or more intelligent.
- Source: Daily Mail
I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer
Oct. 5, 2007 - More on the story of Craig Venter (below).
- Source: Guardian Unlimited - UK
First genome transplant turns one species into another
July 29, 2007 - Craig Venter, a leader in the human genome project, now directs a group that hopes to develop new life forms that will produce usable fuels. They have sucessfully transplanted the DNA from one species into another, solving the first of two big difficulties which have hindered the creation of artificial life.
The team, based at Dr Venter's not-for-profit institute in Rockville, Maryland, now hopes to overcome the second hurdle, by designing new genetic codes on computers and transplanting them into organisms to produce new life forms.L>
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Source: Guardian - UK
Taiwan breeds green-glowing pigs
Jan. 12, 2006 - Transgenic pigs have been created in Taiwan. Scientists have added material from jellyfish to a normal pig embryo. The offspring have a green glow.
Source:BBC
Scientists set to create human-rabbit hybrid - Scotsman
Lab Mice Grow Human Brain Cells After Injections
Dec. 12, 2005 - Scientists at the Salk Institute in San Diego have created mice with some human brain cells. It was done by injecting about 100,000 human embryonic stem cells into mice. The purpose of the experiment is to make realistic models of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
Source: Fox
The mouse that roared: Virgin Birth!
April 22, 2004- Scientists at Tokyo University have produced mice from a process that uses two unfertilized eggs. This is different from the cloning technique which uses only the genetic information from one cell.
- Scientists said the mouse developed normally to adulthood and had offspring of its own by normal sexual reproduction, showing parthenogenesis could work on warm-blooded mammals, including humans.
At this time the process is too complicated and risky to try on humans.
Source:Independent (UK)
Doctor Says He Has Implanted Cloned Human Embryo
Jan. 17, 2004 - Working in London, Dr. Panos Zavos, a maverick U.S.-based fertility expert, claims that he has implanted a cloned embryo in a 35-year-old woman. An egg, harvested from the woman's own body, was infused with DNA taken from her infertile husband's skin cells.
- Since it has not been two weeks since we transferred the embryo, we are waiting for the results of the pregnancy," he told a stunned news conference.
Source:My Way
Genetically altered fish face scrutiny
Dec. 3, 2003 - California may not allow the sale of a designer "GloFish." State laws protect the environment from genetically altered farmed fish, such as salmon, which could get loose and corrupt the state’s wild populations.
- The GloFish was developed by scientists in Singapore who found they could turn the normally black-and-silver zebra fish green or red by inserting genes from jellyfish or a sea anemone. The tropical fish appear to glow ... with ultraviolet or black light.
Source:MSNBC
Chemist claims first cloned human
Dec. 27, 2002 - Brigitte Boisselier, head of the Canadian company, Clonaid, claims that they have produced the first human baby clone. The baby girl named Eve, was born by caesarian section. They would not say where the baby was born. Scientists are very skeptical, since there is no scientific evidence for the claims at this time. Clonaid is associated with the Raelian UFO cult.
Source:MSNBC
Background: The Raelian Sect - Fox
Timeline: Fifty Years of Cloning - Fox
Cloning: Full Coverage - Yahoo
Ultimate stem cell discovered
Jan. 23, 2002 - A huge break-through in genetics has been accomplished by the discovery that certain cells in the bone marrow provide cells that have the capability of can turning into every single tissue in the body. This could mean that perfectly matched organs can be grown for individuals. It could be especially important because the assumption had been that only fetal cells could be used in this way.
The discovery was made by Catherine Verfaillie at the University of Minnesota. Their name for the cell is MAPC or multipotent adult progenitor cell. A patent is pending for the process.
Source:New Scientist
Human life - but not as we know it
Jan. 13, 2001 - The BBC will air a four-part series on cloning. The first episode explores the possibility of a disabled man getting new body parts from a clone of himself.
Source: BBC
First human embryo cloned
Nov. 26, 2001 - On NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday, a doctor claimed that his U.S. company, Advanced Cell Technology, has successfully created a cloned human embryo for the first time.
- The White House issued a statement saying that it was unalterably opposed to cloning embryos and that President Bush backed pending legislation that would outlaw the practice.
The company's president, Dr. Michael West said that they planned to use stem cells extracted from the embryos to create organs for people who would die without them.
Source:MSNBC
Stem Cell Decision: Bush Will Fund Limited Research
Aug. 10, 2001 - President Bush has announced that federal funding will be available for existing stem cell research, but not for any future project that would involve destruction of human embryos.
Source:CNN
To Clone or Not to Clone
Mar. 28, 2001 - A congressional subcommittee will begin hearing testimony today about cloning humans. President Bush has said he will block such research.
Source: ABC
Also: Are We Ready to Clone People?- Cloning has had a 98% failure rate so far!
Making Monsters
Mar., 2001 - Thomas Horn warns that the science of Transgenics is moving beyond genetically modified foods into the area of 'enhancing the human species.'
During the next 20 years human DNA will be altered by the introduction of animal genes into the human genetic structure. Confusion will escalate over the differences between males and females. Not only will people be able to have sex-change surgery, but they may even have sexual genetic modification as well.
Transgenic research could be responsible for mutated plagues of Biblical proportions.
The use of animal genes in humans also violates the Biblical limits between species (each is to reproduce after its kind - Genesis 1:25). It may even border on bestiality (Leviticus 18:23).
Source:Raiders News Update
Surgeon prepares for human cloning
Mar. 9, 2001 - Italian professor Severino Antinori, the director of a fertility clinic in Rome, said he will reveal plans of how he and his team intend to clone a human by the end of the year.
- A Council of Europe convention prohibiting human cloning came
into force this week. The convention, signed by 29 European
countries, including Italy, incorporates the European Convention
on Bio-Ethics of 1997 and updates it to forbid “the creation of
beings which are genetically identical to one another”.
Source: The Times (UK)
Patent allows creation of man-animal hybrid
Nov. 26, 2000 - An Australian biotech company, Amrad, has obtained a Europe-wide patent on "chimeric" animals, developed from cells of various species, including humans, mice, sheep, pigs, cattle, goats or fish.
- Church groups have already reacted with outrage, denouncing the patent as 'morally offensive'.
The patent has been sold to Chemicon International, a US company.
Source: Guardian Unlimited - Observer International
IBM computer to speed genetic studies
June 3, 2000 - During the next five years, IBM plans to build it's "Blue Gene" computer which will be 500 times faster than any computer in use today. It will be devoted to the gigantic task of modeling proteins in the study of the genetic code.
- Yet Blue Gene, 40 times faster than the combined speed of the 40 fastest computers in the world today, will run an entire year to produce an answer for one protein. That will be one down, 39,999 to go. Or thereabouts.
Source: Washington Post
Celera: Genome Map Complete
Apr. 7, 2000 - The monumental task of sequencing the more than 3 billion genes in the Human Genome has been completed. The next step in the project will be to piece the fragments of the sequence together according to where they're located in the body.
Source: BBC
Why The Future Doesn't Need Us
Mar. 14, 2000 - In the April issue of Wired Magazine, Bill Joy, chief scientist for Sun Microsystems warns that at the present rate of scientific innovation, mankind may be threatened with extinction. Three areas of concern are rogotics, genetics, and nanotechnology. He writes, ‘We are being propelled into this new century with no plan, no control, no brakes... 'The last chance to assert control -- the fail-safe point -- is rapidly approaching.’ Joy is a leading computer researcher who developed an early version of the Unix operating system, pioneered the development of Java and was co-chairman of a presidential commission on the future of information technology.
See also: New Technologies Imperil Humanity
Sources: Wired Magazine, JVIM News, Reuters
Nowhere to hide
Mar. 10, 2000 - A gene profiling system threatens to reveal your innermost secrets
Genostic Pharma of Cambridge, a British biotech start-up, has filed for a patent on a device that can detect variants of over 2500 genes--including genes that affect behavior and intelligence. The device has obvious medical advantages, but raises serious ethical questions about use of the information by unscrupulous employers or insurance companies to reject applicants with "the wrong genes".
Source:New Scientist
Breakthrough as scientists 'clone' monkey
Jan 14, 2000 - Tetra, a rhesus monkey is the first primate to be "cloned" using a method that splits the
original cells in an embryo to make multiple identical animals.
Source: BBC
Luminous tree to brighten Christmas
Oct. 25, 1999 - It is possible to produce a genetically modified Christmas tree with glowing needles. Two genes found in jellyfish could be inserted into a tree's DNA. One of them produces an enzyme called luciferase, and the other produces a substance called green fluorescent protein (GFP).
Source: South China Morning Post
Genetic engineering boosts intelligence
Sept. 1, 1999 - Scientists at Princeton University have produced smarter mice by adding one gene which aids memory by association.
Source: BBC News
First cloned human embryo revealed
June 18, 1999 - It has now been revealed that American Cell Technology succeeded in cloning a human embryo last November using a cell from a man's leg and a cow's egg. They destroyed it on the 12th day, claiming it is not yet a person since in a normal pregancy, an embryo implants into the womb wall after 14 days.
Source: BBC News
Earlier stories: U.S. Scientist Ready to Clone Humans and Cloned Lambs Have Human Gene
Biological computer born
June 2, 1999 -US scientists have developed a computer made of neurons taken from leeches. So far, the device can perform simple sums, but this is the beginning of what they hope will be a generation of fast and flexible computers that can solve their own problems the way the living nervous system does.
This first version of the computer uses electrons attached to leech neurons in a petri dish.
Source: BBC News
See also: Computers that run without electricity
Genetically Modified Chickens and Humans
Wings Become Legs
March 12, 1999 - Scientists at Harvard have produced a genetically modified chicken which grows legs in place of wings.
Hawking Predicts 'GM Humans'
Mar. 12, 1999 - A Cambridge professor who is personally opposed to genetic modification (GM) of humans thinks it is inevitable. He predicts that within one hundred years we will produce modified humans which do not resemble normal people very much.
Source: BBC
Cloned Lambs Have Human Gene
Dec. 19, 1997 - This Washington Post article explains the next step in genetic engineering. Now that sheep can be cloned, they are also changing some of the genes to produce living "drug-making factories." First there was Dolly. Now, with Molly and Polly, they are hoping to provide help for hemopheliacs. (Source: Washington Post - story no longer on line)
More News Stories
Links:Cloning & Genetic Modification
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Chuck Missler
- Tampering With The Engines of Creation - Chuck Missler
- Open Directory: Transgenics and Cloning Websites
Last Updated: 4/1/13
Copyright © 1996-2013 by Ron Graff. All rights reserved.