Scientists have successfully created two early-stage embryo clones from two humans. This new advancement may be used to cure heart attacks and Alzheimer's disease. However, while scientists are celebrating this breakthrough, it also sparked a morality debate on human cloning.
Researchers from the Oregon Health and Science University, headed by Dr. Robert Lanza of the Massachusetts-based company Advanced Cell Technology, extracted the DNA from an unfertilized human egg and replaced it with the DNA from a 75-year old male donor. When the egg reaches the blastocyst stage, the researchers cultured it and were able to get stem cells that are a 100 percent match of the donor's DNA. These cells can be used to create other types of cells for organs that needed transplant.
"I'm happy to hear that our experiment was verified and shown to be genuine," said Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a development biologist at Oregon Health and Science University, said to the Wall Street Journal. Mitalipov led the first study that used infant cells that Dr. Lanza replicated using adult cells.
Dr. Lanza clarified that they do not have plans of using the study to make a human clone or plant an embryo in a woman's womb. They would want to focus on developing this technique for medical advancements that can benefit patients with cognitive and neurological disorders.
This study was published on the April 17 issue of Cell Stem Cell.
Meanwhile, advocacy groups appealed to the government to stop the study before it progresses to human cloning that is against the moral standards. Despite the researchers assurance that they do not have plans in cloning a baby, skeptics worried that it is not far from happening.
"The science is no longer theoretical," said Jeremy Gruber, president of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a New York City-based bioethics organization, to USA Today. "We need to start putting laws into place to identify where the line should be drawn in terms of governance of these techniques."
