July 9, 2001

4:39 PM

Unstable genes make normal clones unlikely.Dolly the sheep celebrated her fifth birthday yesterday. Most cloned animals aren't so lucky: they rarely reach adulthood, or even birth. Another reason why cloning humans might not be a good idea, "one can't expect to have normal clones - even if they appear healthy, they may have abnormal gene expression."
posted by lagado (6 comments total)

That makes for the perfect clone!

-- Yeah, hi, I'd like to order a clone of myself for this weekend.

"Sir, you know that clones are genetically unstable and could melt down at any time?"

-- Perfect! I only need him around this weekend to help out cleaning my apartment.

"You disgust me! That's a human life we're talking about."

-- Uhm.

"Your clone will be ready by three! Have a nice day!"
posted by benbrown at 5:00 PM on July 9, 2001

Yeah, although it's a bummer if you wanted to only keep your clone in a tank for organ harvesting.
posted by lagado at 6:40 PM on July 9, 2001

Anybody else picturing an unstable clone of lagado riding around in a tank and harvesting organs?
posted by techgnollogic at 8:29 PM on July 9, 2001

My biology major friend has been saying this for about 7 months now. . . I wonder why theres not more talk about this, with all the fear and fascination with human cloning, and hows its supposedly "right around the corner".

Somebody tell the Raeliens.
posted by Espoo2 at 9:17 PM on July 9, 2001

I think it's important to keep in mind that this does NOT mean stable clones will never be possible, just that we can't do it now.
posted by Nothing at 12:34 AM on July 10, 2001

When I saw "unstable genes" it made me think of "unstable molecules", which was the fabric used in the costumes of the Fantastic Four.

Sorry, please continue...
posted by owillis at 1:23 AM on July 10, 2001