I can clone John Lennon from his tooth, Canadian dentist claims

Washington Times ^ | April 11, 2014 | Cheryl K. Chumley

[billorites]

Put this in the column of seriously strange news. A dentist in Canada who bought an old tooth that came Beatles icon John Lennon's mouth now thinks he can turn DNA from that tooth into a baby via cloning.

Michael Zuk, who paid $33,000 for the tooth at an auction three years ago, told Britian's Channel 4 during an episode of "Dead Famous DNA" that he now is going to try to make a John Lennon-like baby that he can raise as his own.

"If there is enough DNA to sequence it, it could be basically genetic real estate," Mr. Zuk said. "My goal is to own John Lennon's DNA."

Now that he has a piece of the former musician, who was shot dead in 1980 outside the entrance of his New York City apartment building, Mr. Zuk thinks he rightfully owns all of him, in terms of DNA.

"I think I can [clone him] because of the laws," the dentist said on the Channel 4 show. "Depends on where you do these things. If it can't be done in one country, you can do these things in another. To have John Lennon's DNA sequence outside of the family protection to me — and full access to it — is worth millions."

The new version of John Lennon would be the same as the old version — only healthier, Mr. Zuk promised.

The test-tube baby, he said, would still be Lennon's "exact duplicate, but you know, hopefully keep him away from drugs and cigarettes, that kind of thing. But you know, guitar lessons wouldn't hurt anyone

[Publius]

I haven’t seen Bucky Beaver since I was a kid in the Fifties.

[SampleMan]

That’s nothing. I can clone John Lennon from a dog turd.

[x1stcav]

Yeah, but can it sing?

But, then, neither could Lennon.

[mylife]

♪A working class bicuspid, is something to be...♫

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVEnm-LZozU

[fieldmarshaldj]

"The Boys From Liverpool" ?

[RetiredTexasVet]

Why. Just scour the ghetto back alleys in NYC or SF and pick one ... why waste a lot of money create one.

[Gay State Conservative]

Maybe *this* one will obey the INS deportation orders he received,obedience which very probably would have helped him avoid being murdered at the corner of 72nd St and Central Park West.

[Bulwyf]

I’d hate to see a commie cloned, we have enough alive that we shouldn’t bring some back.

[GeronL]

Can he clone someone more useful?

[Aliska]

It's not a good idea even if the tooth didn't have any decay. Unintended consequences like the baby aging fast to catch up with the age of the tooth when extracted.

This brings to mind something I saw on yt a couple weeks ago. Involved the Titanic and recovery and burial of the bodies.

I thought certain parts of the body would last like bones, hair and teeth. Well maybe the teeth. But they tried to ID 3 bodies in a cemetery in Halifax and found that the graves of their test cases were flooded destroying everything since 1913. But enough of the Romanov bodies DNA survived to ID all but one even though sulphuric acid had been poured over them and they were in poor condition. Now their shallow graves may have drained better; I don't know much about it, obviously.

The mystery baby, they found one piece of bone. They were able to extract enough from that poor sample to prove its parents were not who they suspected but did prove it was a child (boy) of Finnish parents.

The main thing was that I guess if your grave floods and any DNA is needed, you are toast. Er slime. I think washed out graves are fairly common and don't know how reliable the vaults are.

It is also my understanding that cremains provide no DNA that can be sequenced even though some bits of bone are present. Kind of ghoulish to think about.

[SunkenCiv]

Ha ha Mister Teeth

Thanks billorites.

[OldSmaj]

Why the hell would we want that loon around, again?

I'm of the Beatle generation and I thought they sucked.

I still threaten murder for anyone playing that damned "I wanna hold your hand." crap, among a few others.

[billorites]

"Can he clone someone more useful?"

Lennon wrote some truly beautiful music; both with Paul McCartney and after.

Being vocal in support of "Peace" might have rubbed some people the wrong way, but gee that's not what I consider a moral failing or anything. After all I'm in favor of "Peace" just like I'm in favor of "Life" and other stuff. As for his taste in women, well love is blind and who am I to judge.

I was a radio announcer working at an album rock station when Lennon was killed in 1980. The extent to which people were hurt by that loss, the feeling of having someone so talented cut down in his prime brings a chill to my spine over 33 years later. For a number of people of a certain age, it was perhaps their first experience of loss and the subsequent grief. There are many songs that bring tears to my eyes still and probably always will.

Yoko!
You skank!

[GeronL]

I am never going to feel a loss when a celebrity dies

[billorites]

"Yeah, but what could he do with some tissue from Yoko’s...."

Trust me.

You don't wanna go there buddy.

[Celtic Conservative]

John Lennon:

loved his music, hated his politics.

I’ve said this before, if I listened to only the musicians that I agreed with politically, morally and philisophically I’d be sitting in a darkened room listening to Anita Bryant over and over again.

To each his own, though.

CC

[lowbridge]

If he’s going to clone anyone, clone Elvis. Even lennon said “if there had been no Elvis Presley, there would have been no john lennon.

[Farmer Dean]

Why doesn’t the Dentist do something useful?Somewhere there has to be one of Marilyn Monroe’s teeth,or maybe Betty Page.

[billorites]

"I am never going to feel a loss when a celebrity dies."

My goodness you're cold.

And barely a year since the passing of Stompin' Tom.

;->

[x1stcav]

Sweet Jesus.
It’s far worse than anyone can imagine.