Cloning Scandal...

[danzig]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/22/D8ELLTU80.html

Well South Korean panel has declared the cloning progress by Hwang Woo-suk have for the most part been faked. On one hand this has to be devestating to South Korean which for the past 2 years or so seems to have become the center point in the world for stem cell researching, this is going to be a huge blow to them in that regard. What worries me however is to me atleast this shows some evidence of the 'rush' to be the first, to be that landmark researcher who gets the breakthru. Its worriesome because my major concern with cloning and stem cell research in general is that somewhere some scientist in the rush to get published and lay claim the glory is going to do something incredibly harmful to humans. Now Woo-suk's research hardly approaches that level but 10-20 years from now? 30? Hell now we have scientist in the US/Canada working on creating the first synthetic lifeform. There just doesnt seem to be enough checks and balances to this that eventually someone is going to do something 'bad' without even realizing it all to be the first. Any comments? Anyone else think this could in the future be a far bigger problem then any nuclear weapon because it can touch upon some possible horrorible biological weapons. We all worry about oil companies raping the earth, industry destroying the planet and enviroment but yet no one seems to worry too much about the guys in the lab.

[Sétanta]

well that sucks...i was hoping that they could cure diseases or something. BUT NO

they have to lie to us

[imb39]

It was clear from the beginning that something was up. I seem to remember that he was using his assistants' eggs in the research - something that is specifically prohibited. It is crazy for someone to do this now. There is so much scrutiny that there was only ever going to be one result - his discrediting. In some ways this links in with the thread about ID that has sprung up. Here, the scientific model has been followed through and the science found wanting. ID cannot even get this far! Sorry for mentioning this!

[leeho730]

Well, no biological weapon is yet capable of destroying 120,000+ people in one go (if there is one then please correct me), and there are at least 29,000 nuclear weapons as of 2005.

[danzig]

It was clear from the beginning that something was up. I seem to remember that he was using his assistants' eggs in the research - something that is specifically prohibited. It is crazy for someone to do this now. There is so much scrutiny that there was only ever going to be one result - his discrediting. In some ways this links in with the thread about ID that has sprung up. Here, the scientific model has been followed through and the science found wanting. ID cannot even get this far! Sorry for mentioning this!

Yeah but look how long it took. As I said he isnt my primary concern but the desire to make breakthru that causes a research to basically lie is. How far would a researcher go to achieve that? And yep your right the checks and balances work for science unlike ID but its always after the fact, after that person publishes which really wont help if they step over the ethnical line.

Well, no biological weapon is yet capable of destroying 120,000+ people in one go (if there is one then please correct me), and there are at least 29,000 nuclear weapons as of 2005.

Thats why I said the future...and not necessarily done on purpose either. My concern is more that scientist are trying so hard to reach that next breakthru and beat each other to it that somewhere along the line someone is going to step over the ethnical line or do something incredibility stupid. Can never underestimate humans ability to do something rash in the name of glory

[Darth Wong]

Actually, a completely synthesized lifeform would be much less dangerous than existing viruses such as smallpox (which the superpowers kept alive for just such purposes), which have evolved to match up with human biochemistry.

If you synthesized a completely new lifeform (especially with different nucleotide base sequences), it would probably be virtually incapable of interacting with human life, hence it would be as harmless as bits of plastic.

[Kanaric]

Well, no biological weapon is yet capable of destroying 120,000+ people in one go (if there is one then please correct me), and there are at least 29,000 nuclear weapons as of 2005.

I'm SURE something exists. Look up what the US military and Russia keep for biological weapons and you can easily so how it could be done. I'm sure wikipedia or someplace, hell even the US military sites have lists.

Right now the closest thing would be several well placed nerve gas agents at a very crowded area, like maybe a Superbowl or something of that nature.

I'll say one thing, the bad form of smallpox could easily take care of that if it ever gets into the wrong hands.