The scientists at Advanced Cell Technology, in Worcester, Massachusetts, claim they have cloned the first early human embryo. They want to create genetically matched replacement cells for patients with a wide range of diseases, and say they have no interest in transplanting these embryos into a woman?s womb to give birth to a cloned human being.
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Two fertility scientists have announced plans to create the first human clone within two years, despite new evidence that cloning can produce monstrous results.
Scientists say that creating healthy copies through cloning is harder than they had expected. Clones often have severe problems, such as developmental delays, heart defects and malfunctioning immune systems. In one example that sounds like science fiction, some cloned mice that had seemed normal suddenly grew grotesquely fat as young adults.
It?s not that one particular thing goes wrong, researchers say. Rather, the cloning process seems to create random errors that can produce a number of unpredictable problems, at any time in life. Fewer than 3% of cloning efforts succeed.
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Sunday Times of London, Washington Post, Techo-Eugenics Email Newsletter – Members of the Raelian religion, which believes that human beings were created by extraterrestrial scientists, said they have begun trying to clone a ten-month-old girl who died earlier this year. The parents of the dead girl, who wish to remain anonymous, have given the human cloning company Clonaid, which is controlled by the religious group, a million dollars to clone their dead daughter. The Sunday Times of London reports that the “project is carried out in a secret laboratory” in Nevada and that “scientists involved hope their baby will be born towards the end of next year.”
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