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ZetaTalk: Clonaid
Note: written during the Dec 28, 2002 Live ZetaTalk IRC Session.


Cloning, as with the Sheep Dolly, is not difficult. The difficulty is having a 100% success, such that no one can claim an injury has occurred. Childbirth, conception, and having a healthy baby is not guaranteed even under normal circumstances. However, parents who proceed and have a damaged child normally do not have a right to sue, or complain, unless clear malpractice by the doctor or hospital occurred. If it is a genetic toss of the dice, then no complaints are filed. Cloning should, theoretically, produce an offspring identical to the parents, but what if all the DNA does not transfer, or during early development expresses differently because of a different early environment? A leg not forming, as the nudge to do so is not there, the DNA perfect but the nudge lacking. Thus, cloned human infants are being developed, have been developed, but until the product is certain, no publicity will be forthcoming. Those making the most noise, however, have not, themselves, done this cloning. They are seeking the spotlight, and have secured it, as no court in the land can force them to produce something protected under doctor/patient laws. Before court orders can ensue, an injury must be produced. Was a law broken? No law for human cloning exists that would put the claimants in jail, certainly not without proof of their actions. Thus, their strutting on stage is safe.

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