Originally published August 9 2005
Issue of cloning dogs once again raised
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The world's first cloning of a dog has raised concerns that scientists are one step closer to replicating human embryos, despite the breakthrough pointing to treatments for currently-incurable human diseases.
On Wednesday, Hwang was all smiles as he put on a lab coat and frolicked with an Afghan hound puppy named Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, which he helped create.
The dog was named after Seoul National University, where Hwang's lab has produced results that have put his team at the forefront of cloning and stem cell technology.
Because of their reproductive cycle, dogs are considered one of the most difficult animals in the world to clone.
The work has made him a national hero in South Korea, where the government will spend about $43 million to fund new labs for him and help Hwang set up a worldwide stem cell bank.
Hwang has said he is not cloning human embryos, but using eggs harvested from human females, infusing them with genetic material, to create cells that can never become human beings.
"I firmly reject the term human cloning," Hwang said in an interview with Reuters in May. "This is a scientific activity called somatic nuclear transfer, and in no part does it involve the physiological process of fertilisation of eggs by sperm."
President Bush, has said: "I worry about a world in which cloning becomes acceptable," and the Catholic Church, has theological qualms.
Lee Chang-young, a member of the Bioethics Committee of Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, said using human eggs from women donors was an affront to the culture of life.
South Korea has banned human cloning, a stand Hwang supports.
But the country sees great promise in being identified as the global hub of therapeutic cloning, which involves creating embryos for a supply of stem cells for research or therapy to develop cures diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's.
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