Prof Trounson issued an apology for misleading Parliament in 2002 after he showed MPs a video of a paralysed rat that he said was able to walk after being treated with embryonic stem cells. It later emerged that a different type of cell—a germ cell—had been used in the treatment.
I have this theory; well not even a theory, perhaps better stated, a mere notion. I believe that human cloning is profoundly and intrinsically wrong in that it reduces human life to a mere malleable and exploitable commodity. It is to treat human life as no different than a corn crop, a copper mine, or a prize bull, that is, it undercuts human exceptionalism (ironically in one of the most exceptional demonstrations of our unique capacities—I mean what other species in the known universe ever invented a new way to create life?)
This being so, my notion, well, more a half-baked notion or sense, is that human cloning will somehow be like the proverbial exploding cigar; it may look enticing but it will cause more pain then pleasure to those messing with it. Witness Wu-suk Hwang.
I mention this as a whimsical aside to this report: A research project run until recently by Alan Trounson, the new science leader of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which will spend $3 billion of borrowed money on human cloning research, has had its funding cut due to reporting anomalies. From the story:WORLD-renowned Melbourne scientist Alan Trounson’s $1m stem cell research project is under investigation after it was scrapped for delivering highly doubtful results.
Monash University is examining anomalies in interim findings from the lung regeneration research conducted in its labs with public money. Prof Trounson—a doctor of philosophy who was headhunted to run the world’s richest stem cell outfit in the US next year—was the project’s principal investigator. It was stopped in February when the Australian Stem Cell Centre cut funding after a three-week investigation found inconsistencies in multiple progress reports...
As the story says, Trounson is not under personal investigation. But it may be a small exploding cigar.
