First Cloned Human Embryo Reported in British Press

A London newspaper reported today that US scientists have produced a cloned human embryo. Using methods similar to those that used to produce Dolly the cloned sheep at Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, scientists at the Massachusetts-based company American Cell Technology (ACT) reportedly produced a male embryo of nearly 400 cells, the Daily Mail tabloid said.

The experiment was reported to have taken place last November when DNA taken from an adult human cell was microinjected into an enucleated cow's egg. The researchers apparently allowed the resulting embryo to develop for some number of days before destroying it.

The scientists who created the clone see it as a significant step forward in the search for a way of producing human stem cells, which could provide tissue for transplantation and the treatment of diseases such as Parkinson's and stroke.

Robert Lanza, ACT's director of tissue engineering, told the Daily Mail that the embryo cannot be considered a person before 14 days. The company released the news of the discovery to try to allay fears over the artificial conception of life.

Since the first embryo was cloned last November, the company is thought to have made many more, destroying them all before they reached the age of 14 days, in line with US research guidelines, the paper said.

This report comes on the heels of what anti-cloning activists are calling a victory for their cause. The US Patent Office rejected a patent application for producing human-animal chimeras filed by Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, and New York Medical College biology professor Stuart Newman. The two said that by their actions, they hoped to block research that involves making cross-species animals. By holding a patent on it, they reasoned, they could stop researchers from using the technique.

The patent office ruled that they could not issue a patent embracing human beings. However, Rifkin and Newman claim that the office in fact already has issued patents on human beings, by allowing patents on transgenic animals carrying human genes. To draw more attention to their cause, Rifkin and Newman intend to appeal the decision.

By Laura DeFrancesco