An experimental cancer treatment has proved successful for one man. The patient had advanced skin cancer which had spread to his lungs and a lymph node. Previously, the cancer hadn't responded to other treatments. So what was this experimental treatment? Well, essentially the patient healed himself.

In the study, patients' t-cells (white blood cells which promote immunity) were harvested and multiplied before being re-administered to the patient. After treatment, the patient went in to complete remission and remained in remission for two years.

Other patients in the study, who received smaller or greater amounts of cloned t-cells, either had no response to the treatment or only a limited response. Doctors aren't yet sure what variable caused this particular patient to respond so favorably. While further research is needed, this limited success gives doctors hope that they are heading in the right direction.

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With human embryo use in the cloning arena being federally banned, scientists have moved elsewhere to advance the cause of embryonic stem cell use. To that end, researchers have now said that embryonic stem cells have been created from monkey embryos.

This is significant because this breakthrough would give hope to the field of using clones to produce embryonic stem cells rather than using actual human embryos for the same thing. But are clones not human?

While medically this is quite exciting for many, the ramifications of philosophy and varying opinions on the subject will continue in fierce fashion I'll bet. And, they should.

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This past weekend, British medical experts again pressed for scientific experiments involving human cloning based on the potential it has to benefit science and medicine.

Human-animal embryos to be used in such cloning, however, never be used as an implant into a woman or animal, said the scientists. Specifically, these scientists were speaking of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) that involves removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with the nucleus of a cell from the animal to be cloned.

The human cloning debate, however it can be defined and described, is far from over, as scientists and religious parties clash and discuss (and clash and discuss). Right now, SCNT is legal in the U.S. and Britain. Should it remain that way?

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Human cloning has been up in front of the U.S. legislature before, and in general, the voting and bill writing goes right down the middle of party lines. Those lines were redrawn this week, as a group of mostly Republicans lawmakers sent a human cloning bill down the chute based on it having too many holes.

In fact, a "real ban on human cloning" was suggested instead of one that would still allow for the use of human embryos used in stem cell research.

The vote ended up being 204-213 against the proposed human cloning bill, as 31 Democrats joined 182 Republicans in voting against it. That tipping point caused the needed two-thirds of the House to not happen, as is required for a bill to pass onto the U.S. Senate. Of course, this is not the end of anything related to human cloning as far as U.S. federal laws are concerned. And the debate rages on...

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The debate continues...

Now a consumer group is saying that Federal agencies used flawed data when making the decision to approve cloned animal products as "safe" for human consumption. Specifically claiming that data was "scant" and failed to take into consideration possible side-effects of cloning. The FDA itself declined to comment, but some on that side of the debate are speaking up and saying the claims are simply untrue.

I have no idea if cloned milk, meat, and other animal products are safe to eat or not -- but I do know they aren't coming into the world in a natural way, and that alone is enough for me to avoid them.

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As stem cell research marches on these days, there is no lack of news on how using stem cells may be able to one day cur all kinds of diseases and ailments -- and to clone mammals.

The "clone mammals" part is a little disconcerting to many, but researchers have reported as of this week that mice have been cloned using stem cells -- from the hair follicles of those same mice.

The U.S. team of researchers says that the stem cells from adult mice are relatively easy to obtain and inject. Will this be opening the door to more experimentation on the cloning of mammals from their own stem cells? Science marches on.

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Bethany talked about the decision this week to allow proponents of animal cloning to vouch for food safety of cloned animals, so I started reading into the details.I'm not sure how to feel about this, but since I don't eat a heckuva lot of meat, it won't affect me in a huge way -- but I am in the minority.

Are there more ethical implications here -- or more implications that nobody has thought of yet? Just this past Thursday, the FDA issued a draft rule that found that meat from cloned cattle, pigs, and goats was as safe to eat as any other meat.

I'm not sure I agree with that statement since we are so close to just the beginning of he way cloning will infiltrate our daily lives. "FDA is essentially giving a couple of cloning companies a Christmas present at the expense of consumers and the dairy industry," said Joe Mendelson, legal director at the Center for Food Safety. At this point, I think I agree with him.

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In Australia, the legalization of the cloning of human embryos for stem cell research has been passed after a vote by the House of Representatives today that lifted a four-year-old ban on the procedure.

Conservative Prime Minister John Howard -- who is against such legislation -- said "In the end you have to take a stand for some absolutes in our society ... and I think what we're talking about here is a moral absolute and that is why I can't support the legislation."

The Australian parliament passed Australia's first laws on stem cell research in 2002, but the law passed today allows therapeutic cloning only.

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