Stem Cells From Cloning Too Defective for Treating Disease
Date: 06/18/2002
Reporting 5/27/02 on a study appearing in the journal Nature Genetics, the Independent of London writes:
“Plans to clone human embryos to generate vital stem cells for transplant operations are likely to fail using the techniques currently available, a study has found.
“Scientists at the University of Connecticut have discovered that cloning produces genetic imbalances, which could explain why so many cloned animals are stillborn or suffer from medical problems after birth and die prematurely. The same flaws could also jeopardize the use of stem cells derived from cloned human embryos produced for ‘therapeutic’ purposes. The resulting tissues would be too defective to repair damaged organs, the scientists said.”