Scientists Claim They Cloned Humans

dustinbarbour writes "A South Korean-led research team has cloned human embryos to produce embryonic stem cells, a scientific first that promises to reignite public debate over cloning. Medical researchers hope to use cloned embryonic stem cells to someday treat diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's. The cells potentially could create rejection-free transplant organ tissues." There's another story in the NYT.

Comments

Important to note....

[Short Circuit]

...That they didn't claim to produce an entire embryo; just stem cells.

Re:Important to note....

[mirko]

Well, the story submitter would have been less error inducing by titling it "Scientists claimed they cloned human cells".
It is too "sensational" and biaised the way it is submitted.

Re:Important to note....

[Anonymous Coward]

They have produced full embrios up to 100 cells equivalent to a seven day old.

also in the BBC

[tuxette]

article here

Um, what? Yes they did.

[Draxinusom]

They transplated the nucleus of a somatic cell into an egg, cultured it to the blastocyst stage, then extracted the stem cells from them. In what sense does that not involve a cloned embryo? If they had implanted the egg into a uterus instead of extracting the stem cells it would have developed into a more or less normal human.

Re:I for one...

[N4m0r]

It's a common misconception that stem cells are harvested from aborted fetuses. By making it look like there are these mad scientists harvesting cells from aborted fetuses the people against the research make it look more disturbing.

Go here for more info on how we really get stem cells. For those who do not want to read here's a little blurb:

Where do embryonic stem cells come from?

Human embryonic stem cells are derived from fertilized embryos less than a week old. Using 14 blastocysts obtained from donated, surplus embryos produced by in vitro fertilization, a group of UW-Madison developmental biologists led by James Thomson established five independent stem cell lines in November 1998. This was the first time human embryonic stem cells had been successfully isolated and cultured.


The cell lines were capable of prolonged, undifferentiated proliferation in culture and yet maintained the ability to develop into a variety of specific cell types, including neural, gut, muscle, bone and cartilage cells.


The embryos used in the work at UW-Madison were originally produced to treat infertility and were donated specially for this project with the informed consent of donor couples who no longer wanted the embryos for implantation.

Re:Um, what? Yes they did.

[GreyPoopon]

If they had implanted the egg into a uterus instead of extracting the stem cells it would have developed into a more or less normal human.

Yes, but unless they have also conquered the problem with Telomeres, the resulting human would at best have a greatly shortened lifespan, and may have all sorts of other problems.

I have mixed feelings on this one. The method they have used provides a viable alternative to using aborted fetuses and embryos for harvesting stem cells and at the same time looks like an answer to the problem of rejection. Aside from the "we shouldn't clone" argument, I think the only other complaint is the use (and destruction) of the egg cell. While this may seem trivial to many, there are some people who will still be very upset by it.

Does anybody know whatever happened with the research on harvesting real adult stem cells from fat tissue? I would think this would solve both the rejection AND Telomeres problems, as presumably these cells would have lain dormant and not used up their life cycle like other cells in the body.