Human Clone Experiment Repeated Successfully

[leftward]

Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The only researchers to publicly show that they have cloned a human embryo said on Tuesday that they had successfully repeated the experiment, growing an embryo to the 16-cell stage.

Researchers at Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester, Massachusetts, have also repeatedly created embryos using a process called parthenogenesis -- using only a human egg cell and no sperm, and without cloning.


The company says the experiments, reported in the January issue of Wired magazine, are not breakthroughs but a natural progression of its efforts to create human embryonic stem cells to use for medical treatments.


"It's not a scientific advance," ACT medical director Dr. Robert Lanza said in a telephone interview.


But he said the researchers had managed to replicate experiments reported in late 2001, in which they used cloning technology to create a human embryo that grew to the six-cell stage. They also created more advanced embryos, called blastocysts, using parthenogenesis.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=570&u=/nm/20031216/sc_nm/science_clones_dc_1&printer=1

[joeybee12]

1. Who thinks this is good news? I have mixed feelings

I think cloning embryos will be great for fighting certain diseaaes, but you just know damn well it's eventualy going to be taken to the human stage. I have no moral issues with cloning a full human being, per se, but along the way, there are going to be a lot of mistakes, and creatures will be cloned that will go through a great deal of suffering. That's where I have the problem.

[BayCityProgressive]

2. well

embryos are one thing. I don't think it is right to clone human beings. Who knows what the side effects could be.

[TomNickell]

3. Cloned animals....

have lots of health problems. The reasons why are not understood.

Until those problems are fixed, cloning a human should be out of the question.

I would be skeptical of these claims. Cloning primates has turned out to be different and harder than cloning sheep.

[SkipNewarkDE]

4. Lots of Health Problems - Bit of a Myth

The conservative cloning opponents would tell you that cloned animals have more health problems. This is not actually documented NOR quantified in any sort of scientific study.

The recurring issue that is a bit dicey has to do with formation and attachment of the placenta after implantation.

[Moderator]

5. Locking.

This thread was started by a conservative disruptor who has since been banned. It is the policy of Democratic Underground to lock threads that were started by banned disruptors.

Thanks!

DU Moderator