US Company Creates Human Embryos Through Cloning

A US biotechnology company announced Sunday that it has created human embryos throughcloning, and the company said that the purpose of its experiment is not to create a human being but mine the embryo for stem cells used to treat diseases.

The cloning was performed by Advanced Cell Technology Inc. of Worcester, Massachusetts. Stem cells are a kind of master cell that can grow into any kind of cell in the body.

"I'm just trying to help people who are sick, and really that's our focus," said Dr. Michael West, the company's president and the chief executive official (CEO).

He called the development "the first, halting steps" toward a new area of medicine.

According to a press release from the company, scientists with the company removed the DNA from human egg cells and replaced it with DNA from a human body cell. The egg cells began to develop "to an embryonic state." The study was published in the latest issue of Journal of Regenerative Medicine.

"These are exciting preliminary developments," said Robert P. Lanza, vice president of medical and scientific development at Advanced Cell Technology and an author on the paper.

"This work sets the stage for human therapeutic cloning as a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue engineering and transplantation medicine," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2001)