Stem cells taken from cloned embryos

Liz Tickner, SYDNEY

SOUTH Korean scientists claim they have cloned a human embryo and extracted stem cells from it in a world-first experiment that could lead to cures for diseases and grow-your-own organs instead of transplants.

The announcement, which was made at a science conference in Seattle in the United States boosts hopes for a breakthrough in the treatment of spinal cord injuries, diseases, such as diabetes and Parkinson's and even blindness.

Each embryo was grown from a single cell taken from a woman, a form of reproduction never before achieved in humans, scientists said. There was no contribution from a father.

The clones grew vigorously in laboratory dishes up to and even past the stage at which fertility doctors typically put embryos into patients' wombs.

That suggests that unlike the products of previous efforts, these clones have the potential to become viable offspring.'

Although researchers had previously grown stem cells from conventional embryos created by the fertilization, the new colony is the first to emerge from a cloned human embryo - a source believed by many scientists to have far more medical potential.

News of the research has re ignited a longstanding debate over human cloning and embryo research. Several US groups renewed their calls for legislation to ban the creation of cloned babies.

While stopping short of proving that a cloned human embryo can develop normally to birth, the Korean research goes a long way toward dispelling those doubts because the embryos grew to the blastocyst stage.

Blastocysts contain hundreds of cells, including an inner bulge of stem cells that have the capacity to form every fetal tissue.

In the study, reported yesterday in the online edition of the journal Science, researchers were able to create 30 early-stage cloned embryos using 242 eggs and donor cells from 16 women volunteers.

The team, led by veterinary cloning expert Woo Suk Hwang and gynecologist Shin Yong Moon, of Seoul National University, said the women were made fully aware of the scope of the study and were not paid for their eggs.

The 30 cloned embryos were grown in the laboratory for a few days to the blastocyst stage. An inner cell mass was isolated from 20 of the blastocysts. From those, one line of all-purpose cells was successfully derived.

Australian Family Association national secretary Bill Muehlenberg said medical breakthroughs may be noble but they did not justify the deliberate destruction of human life. More research should be carried out on harvesting adult stem cells, he said.

The association said Federal and State legislation had always put the interests of children ahead of adults.

The community had to stand up for the rights of embryos that were unable to give informed consent to their own destruction.

In the US, Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation senior vice-president Michael Manganiello said the idea that a person with spinal cord damage could cure themselves was wonderful.

He said that cloning could lead to the development of cell therapies that would not cause immune system rejection which has been a major stumbling block with organ transplants.

News of the Korean breakthrough came as Cloned, a controversial international group linked to the Raelian Movement which believes life on Earth was created by aliens, claimed it had cloned its sixth baby, a boy born in Sydney last week.

The announcement was criticised widely.