Published on April 23, 2004 at 3:57 PM
Japanese scientists have created a viable mouse derived from two genetic mothers with no contribution by a male animal. “Any development like this offers us a new tool to research basic developments in
gene expression and
embryology,” says UAB medical ethicist Gregory Pence, Ph.D., author of the book “Who’s Afraid of Human Cloning?”
“As such, it should be welcomed as a new tool. Transgenic and cloned animals are now the cutting edge of research into making cloning safe and into controlling the damage of genetic diseases. Various conservatives have falsely elevated the ‘yuck’ factor of emotionalism about such new animals to reasoned reflection, but time will show this for the shallow appeal to inherited prejudice, rather than wisdom, that it is.”