A geneticist, Jesuit priest, and bioethicist, Dr. Kevin FitzGerald joined Art is hours 1-3 to discuss cloning techniques and ethics. At the time of the interview, the cloning of Dolly the sheep had just been announced. They had tried this not only on sheep but on pigs and cattle as well, but none of the other species had been successful, so it might be quite a bit harder to clone a human, he surmised. FitzGerald said he would not be surprised if somewhere in the world in a private lab, an attempt had already been made to clone a human, but he would be stunned to hear if it had been successful at this juncture.
He does agree that sometime in the future we will be able to grow a new lung, but he thinks it would be easier and better to remove the diseased part and have the healthy part re-grow a healthy region of the organ. What about replacing the loss of a child with cloning? FitzGerald thinks this is likely an example of cloning going too far. You might be able to make a child look like the lost one – but think of the pressure on the child, he lamented, knowing they were "made" to replace the missing one.
Open Lines are featured in hours 4 and 5, along with Art chatting about his experiences in talk radio.