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Cloning a Cure – How Close Are We?
/science/microsites/S/science/medicine/cloningcures.html
In 2004, Woo Suk Hwang from Seoul National University reported that he had successfully harvested cloned cells from a cloned embryo. These cells were grown in culture for more than a year and were ready and waiting to heal the donor whenever they may be needed.

Cloning FAQs
/science/microsites/S/science/medicine/cloning_faqs.html
Got a question about cloning? Check out our FAQs.

Dolly The Sheep
/science/microsites/S/science/life/biog_dolly.html
Read the amazing story of the most famous sheep in the world – and the first ever clone of an adult mammal.

Health: Food
/health/microsites/0-9/4health/food/index.html
More on food, diets and healthy eating.

GM – Friend or Foe?
/science/microsites/S/science/society/gmo.html
Welcome to the world of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs; welcome to that surreal and scrambled place where anything seems possible.

Human Cloning
/science/microsites/S/science/medicine/
news_reproductive.html
Can we really clone a human being? And if we can, should we?

Immortality – Hype or Hope?
/science/microsites/S/science/medicine/liveforever.html
At the core of the current medical revolution is the humble stem cell. Research continues apace and treatments are becoming a reality. Immortality might be within reach. But does it foretell a utopian dream or a torrid nightmare?

Is Farming Good for Our Health?
/science/microsites/S/science/medicine/news_farming.html
The evolution of farming displaced hunter-gatherer lifestyles, leading to higher food yields and larger human populations. Villages, towns and cities began to grow. But the change also brought with it shorter lifespans and more disease. So, is farming actually a healthy way of life?

Life Stories – Francis Galton
/science/microsites/S/science/life/biog_galton.html
Eugenics is the science of controlled breeding in order to increase desirable inherited characteristics. And its founder was Francis Galton.

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Websites

Charmayne James
www.charmaynejames.com
Official website of the American rodeo star featured in the programme with her champion cloned steed, Scamper. She discusses this decision and the outcome, a foal she has named Clayton.

Department of Health: UK Stem Cell Initiative
www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk/uksci/
Set up in March 2005 to formulate a 10-year vision for UK stem cell research. Click on ‘Related Links’ to read the Chief Medical Officer's Report (2000), the House of Lords Select Committee Report on Stem Cell Research (2002) and other relevant papers.

Featherless chickens create a flap
www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2307
Featherless chickens could be the future of mass poultry farming in warmer countries, says an Israeli geneticist who has created a bare-skinned ‘prototype’. It appears that they suffer far more though and are more susceptible to insect bites, sunburn and skin irritations. There is a photograph of the bird on this page.

Food First – Genetically Engineered Food
www.foodfirst.org/issues/gefood
The Institute for Food and Development Policy raises grave concerns about genetically modified food, genetic engineering in agriculture, biotechnology and other related issues. The site has up-to-date discussions and news on key issues.

‘Golden rice’ is tarnished
www.alternet.org/story/16478/
When opposition to genetically altered food began to develop in the US, the industry mounted a $52 million public relations campaign to extol the virtues of biotechnology, especially the new ‘golden rice’ for improving world health. But it inevitably turned out to be just the latest example of industry hype.

‘Golden rice’ and vitamin A deficiency
www.foe.org/safefood/rice.html
Excellent overview of why the ‘golden rice’ idea is more reminiscent of a red herring! A person would need to eat 7 kilogrammes of cooked rice every day in order to get sufficient vitamin A.

GM crops fail to deliver benefits to Africa
www.mg.co.za...
Ten years after the first significant planting of GM crops there are no apparent benefits for consumers, farmers or the environment.

GM Food Animals Coming
www.i-sis.org.uk/GM-Food-Animals.php
Article that claims foods derived from genetically modified animals are likely to be contaminated by potent vaccines, immune regulators, and growth hormones, as well as nucleic acids, viruses, and bacteria that have the potential to create pathogens and to trigger cancer.

GM salmon muscle in on wild fish when food is scarce
www.sciam.com...
Scientific American article looking at the potential risks of genetically modified fish. Research has shown that if they escape the confines of fish farms, some GM fish would become cannibals during periods of food shortages and may well cause the extinction of the wild variety.

How we regulate tissue engineering
www.mhra.gov.uk...
Regulatory agency of medicine and healthcare products explains how tissue engineering is regulated in the UK.

Stem cell work raises hope for organ transplants
www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2005/03/30/95831.php
Interview with Esmail Zanjani, the lead scientist behind stem cell research that uses sheep to produce humanised organs at the University of Nevada. This type of work could one day provide a solution to organ transplant shortages but inevitably raises serious medical issues. One such concern is that viruses specific to sheep could mutate into a form that infects humans.

Teaching goats to make spider silk
www.carleton.ca/catalyst/2003/s2.html
Article from Carleton University, Canada, on the history and process of goats on a farm in Quebec being genetically engineered to produce spider silk in their milk.

Tissue Engineering
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tissue_engineering
Looks at the nature of tissue engineering, materials and cells, with lots of links and references. Wikipedia is an online community encyclopaedia.

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Books

	After Dolly: The uses and misuses of human cloning by Ian Wilmut and Roger Highfield (Little, Brown 2006) Discusses the potential value of cloning and the ethical choices that this technology has raised, including the issues surrounding the current status of stem cell research. As leader of the team that produced Dolly, Wilmut has played a unique role both in the science of cloning and the ensuing international debate about its implications. Get this book
	The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate edited by Suzanne Holland (MIT Press, 2001) Looks at the many issues involved in human embryonic stem cell research and considers questions about the nature of human life, the limits of intervention into human cells and tissues, and the meaning of our corporeal existence. Get this book
	Rough Guide to Genes and Cloning: From designer babies to Dolly the sheep by Jess Buxton and Jon Turney (Rough Guides, 2007) From cells and their structure and the sleuths who cracked the genetic code to DNA cloning and Dolly the sheep. Illustrated throughout with helpful pictures and diagrams, this Rough Guide turns the microscope on the things that make us what we are. Get this book
	The Value of Life: An introduction to medical ethics by John Harris (Routledge, 2004) Harris explores the principal ethical dilemmas that arise in medical practice and research, and by challenging our basic assumptions and familiar ideas, shows how the most difficult problems may be approached and resolved. Get this book

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