Human Embryos Cloned

4 years ago Science

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the future. It’s really weird.

embryo

Stemagen Corp., a California based bioresearch firm, has claimed that it has cloned human embryos.

The company said that it used established cloning methods to create five human embryos with the goal of creating identical stem cells for patients. The researchers claim they destroyed the embryos when they tested them to make sure they were actually clones, but they plan to do it again.

The claims were recently published in the journal Stem Cells. Other scientists, however, think their claims are false. After the recent scandal of Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, in which the doctor faked reports on human embryonic cloning, many are being ultra careful in regards to any new research on the subject. If it turns out the cells are legitimate, however, it could be a major financial windfall for the company. Stem cells are thought to be the future of medical research in some circles, and stem cells from embryos are considered the most powerful stem cells.

The cloned embryos were made with skin cells from two adult males. They created the cloned embryos by hollowing out an egg cell and injecting the nucleus of the skin cells. This is a well established method of cloning, having been used in the first ever instance of animal cloning, Dolly the sheep, in 1996. The scientists believe that by using this technique they can create cells, organs, and tissues that would directly match patients. This could treat a variety of diseases and make organ transplants much safer.

While I’m all in favor of healing diseases, this is a little creepy for me. While the company doesn’t appear to have any plans to clone an actual human, the mere fact that they have successfully made the first step towards that is a bit disquieting. I’m not a scientist, but if you create a viable cloned human embryo you can get a viable human from that, can you not? Also, this reminds me of that one episode of Sliders where they went to a world where they kept clones around to be used for spare parts. I don’t want to live in a world that resembles an episode of Sliders.

Source: Reuters

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Written by: Chris

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Comments

Old Comments

malis says

Feb 26th, 2008 at 12am
How are the human embryos not viable? You have not stated clearly about what will happen if we can actually clone embryos i think u have no clue in what you are talking about so.......BOO YA!

Arman, Lynnwood, WA says

Jan 25th, 2008 at 12am
Guess all you Good Christian women out there will need to stop defoliating your skin now, huh? I mean, after all, just think about all the potential human life you’re sloughing away! You simply must collect all your skin and create a human life out of each cell, or you’re a MURDERER just like the women who get abortions that you call murderers. It’s the exact same thing.</bloc First off, you should not generally categorize all “Good Christian Women” as the same, because not all Christian women have the same beliefs on abortion and life. Secondly, a clone cannot be created from skin cells alone. The skin cells need to be injected into an embryo to create cloned skin tissue. Finally, exfoliating skin is not the only cause of removing dead skin cells. In fact, the human body sheds skin cells on its own. What do you think makes up some portion of dust?

ScienceMajor says

Jan 22nd, 2008 at 12am
These cells are the future to healthy beings. They are unspecified cells untill they recieve the messenger. And for the paranoids who think they'll clone people to commit crimes..as noted above age factors will play a role. Not to mention the person would have to be willing to commit the crimes. When more information is available to the GP, people may become more understanding.

John says

Jan 21st, 2008 at 12am
For people who have such a problem with it, if and when a cure for a disease comes about from the research, you just shouldn't be allowed to get the cure. Similar to the Iraq War, if you believe so much in it, join the Armed Forces and get shipped off to Baghdad.

Mike Dooley says

Jan 20th, 2008 at 12am
This is a big deal. Our technology has surpassed our humanity. I am in favor of treating illnesses but there is a line that you do not cross. It starts with stem cells. Next we will be creating clones of ourselves to harvest organs from. Yes every human life does matter, but what happens when someone makes a clone of you, and convinces it to commit a criminal act. All they have to do is destroy the clone, and all evidence of it, and you are left holding the bag. They don't need your soul, when they have your clone. Video evidence is all they need to convict someone.

youvegottobekidding says

Jan 20th, 2008 at 12am
"This is a big deal. Our technology has surpassed our humanity. I am in favor of treating illnesses but there is a line that you do not cross. It starts with stem cells. Next we will be creating clones of ourselves to harvest organs from. Yes every human life does matter, but what happens when someone makes a clone of you, and convinces it to commit a criminal act. All they have to do is destroy the clone, and all evidence of it, and you are left holding the bag. They don’t need your soul, when they have your clone. Video evidence is all they need to convict someone." First of all, as already stated above, you don't have to clone an entire human to get organs. Secondly, if someone were to clone an entire human from you and have that clone commit a crime, that clone would be quite a few years younger than you, which would be pretty obvious on any video. DNA evidence (as well as fingerprinting) will become less useful in crime investigations if entire human cloning becomes common.

LOL@RELIGION says

Jan 20th, 2008 at 12am
This is ridiculous... everyone assumes we would just jump to cloning whole humans after cloning organs. If all we need is organs why are people assuming we would go ahead and clone the whole thing?!?! such a waste that would be of time and money, and lets get real we are capitalists. Where's the profit in all that wasted meat? Another thing, how is growing an organ any different from growing a plant? Plants don't scream bloody murder when they are harvested and neither would an organ as you picked it up off the petri dish. What you will hear is a thank you from the patient after they wake up cured and get to spend another holiday with their family.

Anon says

Jan 19th, 2008 at 12am
Stimcells are valueable because in lamens terms, they haven't been given an instruction in what they're supposed to become. You can have an organ without an entire human being by giving those stim cells the instructions into being made into that organ. You don't need to create an entire human to get the organs. In fact, it wouldn't be a viable way to make organs fast enough for a transplant, which is the whole reason why people are working on this. To save lives. Religion shouldn't be a factor in this. It shouldn't be a factor in our government, or in our schools. It should only be a factor to those who believe in that religion.

bob says

Jan 19th, 2008 at 12am
Oh please. Clone is not a 100% copy of a person. Clone does not have the memories or personality of its DNA´s donor. While he has the same DNA, he wont grow up as a same person.

Matt says

Jan 19th, 2008 at 12am
Hitler was big on cloning..