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> The word "Cloning" has somehow gained a taboo now adays. The minute you say > the word "cloning" people think of cloning an individual. That is > absolutely wrong. Cloning has been around for almost half a century in the > tissue culture world. " Raj, I've been rather concerned about how some PD folks on this list view cloning as a panacea. In fact, the technology is far from perfected and could lead to disastrous consequences if embraced without extensive (I'm talking in years here) research. I remember when adrenal tissue was implanted in the brains of PD victims, as well as pig cells, in order to re-establish working dopamine producing tissue. The results were devastating. The operations occurred in Europe where there is less than stringent over-site of new technology. There hasn't been great success with stem cell transplants in PD patients either - the research was stopped in the US because of the overwhelming dyskinesia that occurred in patients as a consequence of the surgery. Nonetheless, many on this list believe that cloning will be 'the cure.' The fact that cloned animals are seriously flawed and that there is no guarantee of the genetic stability of cloned cells or what they could potentially produce down the road in patients who receive them doesn't seem to enter the discussion. PD treatment with cloned cells will most probably occur over-seas within a short period of time. There will be individuals with money who will avail themselves of that treatment, as PD folks did with adrenal and pig cell transplants before them. All scientists in PD research are probably already watching the process that will lead to cloned cell therapeutic transplants. Let us watch as well and remember that some treatments are far, far worse than the disease. ---------- God bless Mary Ann (CG Jamie 63/23) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn