Piste 60 - U9 L35 - p102

Leçon35.

Lesson 35.

Finfévrier1997,unenouvellequiprovientdeGrande-Bretagne,faitenunriendetempsletourdelaplanète.

At the end of February 1997, a news item from Great Britain made its way around the world.

Onaclonéunmammifèreadulte,unebrebisetinstantanémentcélèbreDolly.

We have cloned an adult mammal, a sheep that instantly became famous: Dolly.

Lanouvellesurprendparcequ'undogmedelabiologievientdetomber.

The news is surprising because a dog from the biology lab has just fallen.

Oncroyaitjusqu'alorsquedanslemondeanimal,seulsdetrèsjeunescellulesétaientdouésdepetitspotences,c'estàdiredelacapacitéderepartiràzéropourdonnerunembryon,puisunfœtus,puisunbébé,puisunadulte.

Until now, it was believed that in the animal world, only very young cells were endowed with small potentials, that is to say the ability to restart from zero to give an embryo, then a fetus, then a baby, then an adult.

Maiscesontlesquestionséthiquesetanthropologiquesquisontsurtoutesleslèvres.

But it is the ethical and anthropological questions that are on everyone's lips.

Etsil'ondevaitfaireçaàl'humain?

And should we do this to humans?

Toutlemondesentbienqu'unpasaétéfranchi,quecepaslàaquelquechosedeprofondémenttroublant.

Everyone knows that a line has been crossed, that there is something deeply disturbing about it.

JAMAISlesnouvellestechnologiesdelareproductionetlagénétiquen'ont.

NEVER have the new reproductive and genetic technologies.

Ellesemblaitplusproche,pournepasdirepluscomplice.

They seemed closer, not to say more complicit.

JAMAISn'atonsentiaussifortqu'avoiraccèsàl'embryon,c'estavoiraccèsàl'identitébiologiquedesêtresvivantsmicrobes,plantes,animaux,humains.

NEVER have we felt as strongly that having access to the embryo means having access to the biological identity of living beings: microbes, plants, animals, humans.