Patents Filed on Human Cloning

A reader wrote: I found this article at bioresearch online. (free regixtration required) "Two companies, one American and one Australian, have applied to the European Patent Office for a patent on a cloning process that fuses human and pig cells, according to a report filed by Reuters. Their aim is to advance therapeutic cloning, a process whereby cells would be removed from a patient and grown in culture to create a source of stem cells. Such cells could then develop into tissues or organs for transplantation. In addition to providing organs for the thousands of patients waiting for a donor organ, this approach would also obviate the need for immunosuppressents, which transplant patients take to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ.""