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Posted on 09/10/2005 3:20:50 PM PDT by NYer
Human embryos created using a so-called "virgin conception" technique have been made in the UK for the first time.
The Roslin Institute, which also cloned Dolly the sheep, reported the so-called parthenotes at a Dublin conference.
They are made by stimulating a human egg to start dividing like an embryo without the addition of any genetic material from a male sperm cell.
The Edinburgh team has so far created six parthenotes to the stage at which they would hope to mine stem cells.
"At the moment we have not managed to get stem cells from these embryos but that continues to be our ambition," Roslin's Dr Paul De Sousa told the British Association's Festival of Science in the Irish capital.
Embryonic stem (ES) cells are "master cells" that in the normal reproductive situation go on to form all of the body's tissues.
The Edinburgh-based team hopes to obtain such cells from the parthenotes and use them to investigate their potential in laboratory research and in medical treatments.
The scientists stress the embryos would never be implanted in a woman's womb - and the terms of their research licence prohibit this anyway.
'Inefficient' outcomes
Parthenogenesis (out of the Greek for "virgin birth") occurs quite naturally in a number of lower animals. Insects such as bees and ants use it to produce their drones. Some larger animals can also reproduce this way - there are a few lizards, for example - but it is rare.
And scientists have induced parthenotes artificially in creatures such as mice and monkeys, although it very often results in abnormal development.
Non-UK work on human parthenogenesis for laboratory research has had very indifferent results so far - and the Roslin team also reports highly inefficient outcomes.
For ES cells to be obtained, an embryo must be grown to the so-called blastocyst stage of about a 100 cells. Roslin's blastocysts achieved about half that, but, with time, Dr De Sousa is hopeful of success.
"It's a numbers game," he said. "It's just a matter of supply of tissue to be engaged in experimentation."
The Roslin team in its research programme is using eggs taken from volunteer donors due to undergo sterilisation.
'Parallel strands'
Some scientists have advocated parthenogenesis on the basis that it could be a more ethically acceptable way to obtain ES cells; working on normal, fertilised embryos is a deeply controversial area.
But others have doubted its use on technical grounds, arguing the degree of genetic manipulation required to achieve parthenogenesis makes this route to ES cells an unnecessarily complicated one.
Even the cloning of human embryos pioneered at Roslin would appear to be a more straightforward approach, they argue.
However, Dr De Sousa believes the infancy of stem cell research means science has to keep its options open.
"I think there are many reasons to be engaged in parallel strands because we don't know that any one of them is going to lead to where we want to go," he said.
Groups opposed on moral grounds to this whole area of research reacted with dismay to Friday's announcement.
Matthew O'Gorman, of the charity Life, said: "It is another example of Frankenstein science which illustrates how out of touch with public opinion these recent scientific developments are.
"[The Roslin team] was granted a licence by an unelected, unaccountable quango."
Mr O'Gorman said Life was also concerned that the experiments exploited women, as eggs could only be made available by undergoing treatment that posed a potential risk to health.
Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, called on the government to put a moratorium on licences for embryo research.
She said: "We know so little about the mechanics of embryology that at the very least we should wait until we know a lot more until we say we can do it better than nature.
"These are very big steps indeed, and the whole area is running completely out of control."
Mrs Quintavalle said the use of stem cells from discarded umbilical cords offered great potential to cure disease - with none of the ethical difficulties of experimenting on human embyros.
Words fail.
The very use of the term "virgin conception" (the article also refers to virgin birth) is clearly an attempt by the BBC to devalue Christianity. To use this in reference to a procedure which is the antithesis of Christian morality is appalling.
Who knows? They may all look like Helen Thomas.
ugghhhhh...need to vomit...ugghhhhh...disgusting...don't write things like that!
What a dumbass! This idiot writer wouldn't know a drone if it bit him.
(sigh)
Where do you start? What do you say about people whose sense of morality is so warped that they're not only looking for more embryos to experiment on, they're looking to create them to increase the available supply?
I have to agree with the other poster; words simply fail.
Check out the Wikipedia article for Parthenogenesis. It describes parthenogenesis in whitpail lizards and the production of drones in honeybees (presumably the ones that would bite him). Other sites confirm parthenogesis creating drones for ants. I'm not sure where you find fault with the writer in the lines you quoted.
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No. It produces cells which have half the amount one needs to be human. The cell could have either an X or a Y, but only one of them. In normal biology, these are produced as sex cells, either the ovum or the sperm. It is "inconceivable" that they could become viable.
"So is everyone in the future gonna be a hot female clone that gives birth to their own clone?"
No. The procedure in such a future would require one to transfer the genetic material from the ovum of the "partner" to the ovum of the mother. This would preserve genetic variety and vigor, and would also produce only females.
"Been there. Wrote the book about it. -- Nobody wore a tee-shirt."
You are correct that the procedure, starting from a human ovum, would only produce (partial) females.
Similar labs existed in and around New Orleans.
It is written that we will not heed the warnings or take notice of God's signs and will fall into the waiting arms of the anti-christ. Even saints could be lost unless God cuts the time short.
And that is the cheery forecast.
God ordained a natural means for the human co-creation of a human soul along with Him. Since the ability to co-create a human soul is among the greatest human powers, along with reason and free will, the means of procreation should not be changed for any reason. The end doesn't justify the means.
It's not nice to fool Mother Nature! ;o)
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