SF lab created human clone ... just announced

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NEW YORK - Scientists say they have produced embryos that are clones of two men, a potential step toward developing scientifically valuable stem cells.

It’s the first documented demonstration that ordinary cells from an adult human can be used to make cloned embryos mature enough to produce stem cells, the researchers said. But because they haven’t produced those stem cells yet, experts reacted coolly.

Since other scientists had previously made a cloned human embryo, “I found it difficult to determine what was substantially new,” said Doug Melton of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

He said the “next big advance will be to create a human embryonic stem cell line” from cloned embryos. “This has yet to be achieved,” Melton said.

Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk claimed a few years ago that he’d created such cell lines, but that turned out to be a fraud.


Dr. Samuel Wood, a co-author of the new paper and chief executive of Stemagen Corp. of La Jolla, Calif., said he and his colleagues are now attempting to produce stem cell lines from the embryos.

The work was published online Thursday by the journal Stem Cells.

Scientists say stem cells from cloned embryos could provide a valuable tool for studying diseases, screening drugs and, perhaps someday, creating transplant material to treat conditions like diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

But critics raise objections. Some say the procedure amounts to creating a human life in a lab and then destroying it to harvest the stem cells. Others raise concerns about health risks and exploitation if large numbers of women are asked to provide eggs for widespread cloning.

Those objections are one reason that an alternative route to stem cells made headlines last November. Scientists reported a relatively simple way to turn skin cells directly into stem cells. This direct reprogramming carries a theoretical risk of cancer for the recipients of tissue from these cells, however, and many scientists have urged that work continue on the cloning technique as well

Re: SF lab created human clone ... just announced

i'm all for stem cell research but cloning entire humans is just creepy, creepy, creepy.

Re: SF lab created human clone ... just announced

Re: SF lab created human clone ... just announced

You better be very, very careful when you decide to play God. This is not a good idea and an extremely dangerous step to take.