November (Web-only) 2001

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For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
—Ephesians 6:12

The November 25 issue of The New York Times included a story headlined "24 Cow Clones, All Normal, Are Reported by Scientists: A Challenge to Arguments Against Human Cloning." The 24 fine cows, according to scientists at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts, "are normal in every way."

The Times story, by veteran science writer Gina Kolata, notes that one of the reasons many scientists have opposed human cloning is the high rate of defects among clones. And indeed, she goes on to report, to produce those 24 allegedly perfect specimens, Advanced Cell Technology created no fewer than 500 clones, of which only 30 survived to birth, and of those only 24 to adulthood.

Nevertheless, the researcher who directed the project, Dr. Robert Lanza, isn't shy about the implications of his work. A proposed ban on human cloning passed the House but stalled in the Senate last summer and was put on the back burner after September 11. The 24 cows, Lanza claims, render the proposal moot. After all, such legislation was "fueled by" the "desire to portray human cloning as dangerous and irresponsible." But now, he says, "it's important to put some science in here, some reality."

Ah, Science. Ah, Reality. But wait a minute. Today Dr. Lanza is back in the Times in another story by Kolata: "Company Says It Produced Human Embryo Clones." The clones were produced in October: "Most died within a day or so," Kolata writes. "Six lasted for five days." But the announcement was made only yesterday, three days after the announcement of the "normal" ...