(ABP) — Scientists in South Korea report that they have created human embryos through cloning and extracted embryonic stem cells, the universal cells that hold great promise for medical research, according to the Boston Globe.
Their goal, the scientists say, is not to clone humans but to advance understanding of the causes and treatment of disease. But the work makes the birth of a cloned baby suddenly more feasible. For that reason, it is likely to reignite the fierce debate over the ethics of human cloning.
The work by two scientists at Seoul National University will be published in the journal Science, the Globe said. The paper provides a detailed description of how to create human embryos by cloning. Experts in the field not involved with the work said they found the paper persuasive.
It is what patients with diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes had been waiting for, the start of so-called therapeutic cloning. The idea is to clone a patient's cells to make embryonic stem cells that are an exact genetic match of the patient. Then those cells, patients hope, could be turned into replacement tissue to treat or cure their disease without provoking rejection from the body's immune system.
Even though the new work clears a significant hurdle, scientists caution that it could take years of further research before stem cell science turns into actual therapies.
The U.S. House has twice passed legislation that would ban all human cloning experiments, most recently in February 2003. But the bills have foundered in the Senate, where many members who oppose reproductive cloning do not want to ban it for medical research.
A Southern Baptist physician involved medical ethics denounced the Korean development. “Although the stated purpose of this so-called 'therapeutic' cloning is to produce embryonic stem cells, there is probably no significant technological barrier to prevent a cloned embryo from being implanted in a woman's womb, producing the world's first cloned baby,” said Don Buckley, a fellow of the Research Institute for the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Buckley, a family physician in Pensacola, Fla., called on Congress to enact a comprehensive ban on human cloning “to prevent this assault on human life and dignity in this country.”
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