The passion for cloning

Geneticist Kiselyov: there is no unequivocal ban on cloning in the world
<url>Human reproductive cloning is impossible, as is organ cloning, since there is no technological basis for this.

This was stated by Sergey Kiselyov, head of the laboratory of the genetic foundations of cellular technologies, to our correspondent Lev Feinberg in a comment on the discussion in the Duma of the bill banning human cloning.

(The headlines that appeared in the media on Friday like "The State Duma indefinitely banned human cloning" are somewhat exaggerated: the bill was adopted only in the first reading, and it is unknown when the law will be adopted in its final form. And this law will not be final: "indefinitely" means that the new bill provides for a ban on human cloning for an indefinite period – until the adoption of a federal law that will regulate this sphere of application of biotechnologies - VM.)

He stressed that the passions around cloning have long subsided and even in the UK allowed so-called therapeutic cloning up to the age of 14 days in order to obtain embryonic stem cells. In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed the use of cloned animal meat in writing. Under Obama, the FDA allowed the use of oligodendrocytes from human embryonic cells for the treatment of spinal cord injuries, under Bush, American geneticists did not wait for this. It is very cheap to reproduce trout and salmon, and the first generation of cloned animals is not viable, but the further offspring of those that survive are no different from ordinary fish. Cloning makes it much easier to get animals with the desired properties, but only for those who succeed. Russian scientist Shukhrat Mitalipov conducted therapeutic cloning of monkey embryos in the USA. Reproductive cloning did not work out for him, Kiselyov noted.

In his comment, the scientist noted that there is no common understanding of what cloning is. In the socio-political sense, it always means the transfer of the nucleus of a somatic cell of a mature organism into an egg cell in which the nucleus has been killed or removed in some way. Such work has been carried out for many years from large animals on cows and horses. It is forbidden on a person. In biology, cloning refers to the mass reproduction of individuals who are identical to the same extent as identical human twins. This is possible under artificial conditions in laboratory mice or carp, and in nature occurs naturally in silver carp and rock lizard.

Answering the question about the purpose of obtaining embryonic stem cells, Kiselyov explained that this is necessary for the correction of a mutant gene, i.e. the treatment of monogenic diseases. But for this it is necessary to somehow overcome the immunological incompatibility.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru25.01.2010