Chinese 'have cloned 30 human embryos'
[made in where?]Chinese scientists have created at least 30 cloned human embryos as a source of cells for medical treatments, it was claimed last night.
The research makes them leading contenders in the race towards human cloning.
The scientists say they have harvested 'stem cells' from human embryos that were cloned from eggs donated by patients at a fertility clinic.
Work on stem cells, the body's mother cells that can develop into any kind of tissue, may herald a medical revolution. They could be used to produce perfectly-matched 'spare part' tissues for transplant - avoiding the risk of rejection as the cells are taken from the patient's own body
Experts predict that treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes could be available within three years.
China's relaxed attitude to cloning has led to huge amounts of money being spent on research. But the breakthrough at Xiangya medical college, in the southeastern city of Changsha, will prompt fears that it could go a step further and produce a cloned human baby.
A handful of teams around the world say they are working on implanting a cloned embryo into a woman, despite widespread revulsion.
The Xiangya team say they have been cloning embryos for two years, with five per cent surviving long enough to have their stem cells harvested.
Last year, scientists in Massachusetts claimed to have produced the world's first human embryos for medical research. But their best-developed embryos stopped growing after three days.
Details of the Chinese claims are sketchy. Experts will be sceptical until they appear in a Western scientific journal.
Vatican [Lies]
Vatican [Lies]
Condemning cloning humans [but does it really...remember they have a Jesuit Pope, having set China up to usurp the USA after centuries of "involvement"]
VATICAN CITY
1 OF 2. Pope Benedict XVI waves as he leads his weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican January 16, 2008. The Vatican on Friday condemned the cloning of human embryos, calling it the 'worst type of exploitation of the human being'.
CREDIT: REUTERS/DARIO PIGNATELLI
(Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday condemned the cloning of human embryos, calling it the "worst type of exploitation of the human being".
"This ranks among the most morally illicit acts, ethically speaking," said Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Vatican department that helps oversee the Church's position on bioethics issues,.
A U.S. company said on Thursday it used cloning technology to make five human embryos, with the eventual hope of making matched stem cells for patients.
If verified, the team at Stemagen Corp., would be the first to prove they have cloned human beings as a source of stem cells, the master cells of the body -- which scientists hope to harness to repair devastating injuries and cure diseases.
Sgreccia said the cloning research was unjustifiable. He also said it was unnecessary, given advances in similar research that bypasses the controversial use of embryos.
"There isn't even -- I won't say the justification, because it's never justified -- but not even the pretext of finding something (new)," he told Vatican radio.
There are several types of stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, made from days-old embryos, are considered the most powerful because they can give rise to all the cell types in the body.
Other teams have made stem cells they believe are similar to embryonic cells using a variety of techniques, including reprogramming ordinary skin cells into what are called induced pluripotent stem cells.
Sgreccia said, given the alternatives, he could not understand why scientists wanted to use human embryos -- which the Roman Catholic Church believes should be protected.
"You can't know any more if this is all a game ... done solely out of the desire to experiment on men and women," he said.
Stemagen Corp said it used a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, which involves hollowing out an egg cell and injecting the nucleus of a cell from the donor to be copied -- in this case, the skin cells from two men.
It is the same technique used to make Dolly the sheep in 1996, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult.
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