BALTIMORE -- Researchers in South Korea for the first time have cloned a human embryo and then culled stem cells from it, marking an important step toward one day growing patients' own replacement tissue to treat diseases.
The experiment is sure to revive controversy over human cloning, both in the United States and internationally. Maryland lawmakers have introduced legislation this year that would prohibit any human cloning and attempts to do so (
House Bill 481).
The Korean experiment is not cloning to make babies. Instead it's called therapeutic cloning, in which embryos that are the genetic twins of a particular patient are grown in a test-tube to supply master stem cells that can grow into any tissue -- without being rejected by that patient's immune system.
The technique offers the potential of breakthrough treatments for diabetes, Parkinson's and other diseases, but any therapy is years away from being tested in people.
Scientists have used therapeutic cloning to partially cure laboratory mice with an immune system disease. And they know how to cull stem cells from human embryos left over in fertility clinics, offering the potential of cell therapy but not patient-specific treatment. But attempts at cloning a human embryo in the stem-cell quest have failed until now.
Internationally, the United States is pushing for a United Nations ban of all human cloning. The U.N. General Assembly recently postponed a decision. There is almost universal support for a global ban of reproductive cloning, but Britain and a number of other countries want cloning for medical experiments left unhindered.
The proposed Maryland legislation would prohibit a person from performing or trying to perform human cloning, defined as fertilizing an egg removed from the body and producing a living organism at any stage of development.
The bill would also prohibit anyone from transporting products of human cloning. Lawmakers have, however, provided for a section in the bill that would not restrict scientific research involving other cloning techniques, including molecule, DNA, non-human embryo cell, tissue, organ, plant or animal research.
Under the legislation, the offense would be considered a felony and would be punishable by a maximum 10-year prison sentence and/or a maximum fine of $100,000. Offenders would also risk having their professional licenses revoked. The bill also affords civil penalties should the violators gain from the offense.
Cloning aside, Jaenisch lamented that most U.S. scientists won't be able to experiment with the Seoul researchers' new stem-cell line. Culling stem cells from embryos kills them, and President George W. Bush has forbidden any federally funded research on stem cells from embryos destroyed after Aug. 9, 2001 -- making the South Koreans' recently developed line too new.
The report appears in Friday's edition of
Science magazine.
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Copyright 2005 by TheWBALChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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