Snuppy the Wonder Dog

When this goofy pup was delivered by Caesarean section on April 24 he was a one in a thousand shot. His dad was a 3-year old Afghan Hound selected for his gentle nature, his mom was a yellow Labrador Retreiver. Yet Snuppy (short for Seoul National University Puppy) is 100% Afghan and identical to his dad in every way. Snuppy was not created in the usual way.

Scientists in South Korea took a skin cell from his dad's ear and extracted the genetic material from the nucleus. They transferred the genetic material to an unfertilized egg from his mom, whose nucleus had been removed. The reconstructed cell holding the dad's DNA was zapped with electricity to stimulate cell division and then implanted into mom's womb.

This same procedure was repeated with 1095 surrogate moms. The only successful birth was Snuppy. What a guy!!!

The scientists think this is an important step in medical research since dogs share many physiological characteristics with humans.

Meanwhile, investigators are probing the shocking discovery of hundreds of fetuses and stillborn babies stored in a Paris hospital morgue. Officials in France said 351 stillborn babies and fetuses were kept at Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital's morgue -- some for two decades.

A top geneticist and medical ethicist, Doctor Axel Khan, said he was not surprised. I think that there are fetuses and stillborn infants in all maternity wards at university hospitals. Once, it was the norm ... Researchers who needed them for their work asked obstetricians not to dispose of them.

Health Minister Xavier Bertrand described his shock at visiting the morgue, saying that the remains were stored in disgraceful conditions. I still have these disturbing images in my mind, these sacks and bottles of formaldehyde spread out, he told Le Parisien newspaper.

Caroline Lemoine's search for the remains of a fetus she had aborted in 2002 led to the discovery, Le Parisien reported. I wanted to verify that my child was cremated, like they said he would be. They told me "Your son has not been cremated, his body is still here." At last I knew the truth. My mourning came to an end.

France is surely a Godless country.

A Gallup poll in May found that 61% of Americans considered animal cloning morally unacceptable. Objection to human cloning must approach 100% in America.