Cloned Fetus Provides New Tissues
Several news organizations are today reporting on a study published in the June issue of Nature Biotechnology in which researchers implanted into cattle cloned cells that formed functioning kidney-like organs and working heart tissue. So what’s the catch? The cloned tissue came from a six week-old cloned fetus.
As reported by AP, “In the study, researchers removed the nucleus from a cow egg and replaced it with a skin cell containing DNA from another cow. They then implanted the cloned embryo into a surrogate cow and let the embryo grow for about six weeks before removing it.”
Today’s reports make it more and more difficult for proponents of human cloning to claim that human research cloning will stop at the point of cloning embryos to be destroyed and harvested at the embryonic stage. It is inevitable that cloned human embryos will be implanted for further development to create spare parts, or for the purpose of a live birth.