The thought of new, genetically modified human bodies resistant to all known deformities and inherited disorders, plus growing replacement body parts with the help of stem cells and genetic implantation, excites the imagination. Stem cells form in animals and humans during the earliest stages of life and can develop into the entire range of cellular tissues that make up the body. Scientists have successfully implanted stem cells in animals to repair a variety of physicalproblems. In one amazing experiment, animals withspinal cord injuries partially regained the use of their hind legs after stem cells were implanted intheir spinal cords. Scientists believe human stem cells can eventually be used to regenerate tissues damaged from diseases such as Parkinson's, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
Cloning is a much more radical achievement.
The cell is then placed in the womb of a surrogate mother. If everything goes right, the offspring is an exact physical copy, or twin, of the person or animal from which the DNA was taken. The implications of cloning are spooky. While this new science opens the door for us to consider jumping from old bodies into new ones and retaining a form of eternal youth, it also allows for profound wickedness. If we can look beyond the shaking finger of the church and other moralists who insist that we should not be playing God in the laboratory, the possibility exists that humans can enjoy a healthy body for as long as they want to keep it.