The News:
Embryonic clones of humans
Reported breakthrough could reignite debate over stem-cell research
By Rick Weiss The Washington Post
Article Last Updated: 01/18/2008 01:16:06 AM MST
WASHINGTON — Scientists at a California company reported Thursday that they had created the first mature cloned human embryos from single skin cells taken from adults, a significant advance toward growing personalized stem cells for patients suffering from disease.
The embryos — grown from cells taken from the company's chief executive and one of its investors — also offered evidence that few, if any, technical barriers might remain to the creation of cloned babies. That reality could prompt renewed controversy on Capitol Hill, where the debate over human cloning has died down of late.
Five of the embryos grew in laboratory dishes to the stage that fertility doctors consider ready for transfer to the womb — a degree of development that clones of adult humans have never achieved before.
No one knows whether those embryos were healthy enough to grow into babies. The study leader, who is also the medical director of a fertility clinic, said they looked robust. However, he emphasized that he has no interest in cloning people. more...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Stem Cells.
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