Cloning for stem cells ‘redundant’

June 9, 2008

AUSTRALIA’S first application for a licence to clone human embryos for stem cell research should be knocked back because recent scientific discoveries have made the procedure redundant, critics say.

Ethicists, religious heads and anti-cloning groups yesterday hit out at the joint move by Sydney IVF and Victoria’s Monash Immunology and Stem Cell laboratories to seek permission from the National Health and Medical Research Council to clone human embryonic stem cells. The scientists want to implant discarded eggs left over from IVF treatment with diseased cells from an adult to create embryonic stem cells that are an exact replica of the donor, to help develop treatments for diseases. Australians for Ethical Stem Cell Research national director David van Gend said scientific breakthroughs meant cloning was no longer needed to create embryonic stem cells. (The Australian)