(no subject)

[prog]

Meh. Everyone here sad because the House just passed a comprehensive cloning ban, shooting down a proposed alternative bill that would outlaw reproductive cloning but allow theraputic cloning. Raaargh, fire bad, Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Florida) said.

I'm heartened a little by the fact that the difference was less than 60 votes. In the meantime, hmmh... I guess this is what other countries are for.

Comments

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Therapeutic cloning? "Doc, I just don't feel right. I get so...angry all the time." "Here, let's clone you. Perhaps when you see yourself beside yourself in anger, you'll realize how destructive your anger is."

"Doc, I just don't feel right. I want to kill myself." "Here, let's clone you--you can kill the clone, see how it feels, work through the issues."

Er, not offering these as worst-case scenarios; just trying to imagine what "therapeutic cloning" could entail.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Fair enough; it is kind of a misnomer. "Somatic cell nuclear transfer" is a less interesting alternate name. In either case, it refers to the use of cloning techniques on human cells for disease research, without the goal of creating a new embryo.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I eventually picked that up from context; and clearly the term isn't of your invention. It's just so...odd.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Heh... actually, I didn't really understand your original line of thinking until just now. Because of my job, I've gotten so used to hearing the word "therapy" (and derivatives) used to mean actual medical applications that I've forgotten what it probably more often means in the mainstream.