Posted on 12/10/2005 6:58:33 AM PST by Mad Dawgg
SEOUL, Dec 5 (Reuters) - South Korean researchers led by Hwang Woo-suk of Seoul National University are at the forefront of stem cell research.
In May, their study on using tissue from patients to grow stem cells answered a promise that could one day provide human tissue and organs to cure terminal illnesses.
Hwang apologised on Nov. 24 for ethical lapses in his work. Two junior women researchers donated their eggs for the team's work, a practice which has been seen as an ethical violation because research associates could feel they were coerced into making such donations.
Following is some of Hwang's recent work:
THERAPEUTIC CLONING
Hwang's team cloned the first human embryo for research and developed the first tailored embryonic stem cells.
Such advances could eventually lead to cures for such debilitating and deadly diseases as Parkinson's and severe spinal cord injury, by taking skin from a patient to grow custom-made stem cells with that patient's specific genetic material.
Donated human eggs were hollowed out and skin cells from patients injected into it and then fused. The eggs begin dividing and sometimes become embryos.
The process, published in the journal Science earlier this year, resolves the complication of immune rejection, fulfilling a basic promise of using cloning to cure terminal illnesses.
WORLD STEM CELL BANK
South Korea established the bank in October with the aim of keeping the country at the forefront in the field. Stem cells are stored at Seoul National University and made available to international researchers.
Hwang resigned his chairmanship from the bank when he announced the ethical lapses at his laboratory.
HUMAN EMBRYOS
Hwang has said he is not intending to clone humans. The early-2004 study paved the way for the start of therapeutic cloning. Hwang and his team removed the nucleus from a human egg and replaced it with the core of another cell taken from the female donor.
FIGHTING MAD COW DISEASE
Hwang said in 2003 that his team had cloned cows with high levels of a protein structure that makes them resistant to mad cow disease.
Cow's eggs were injected with somatic cells with a high-level of a protein structure, and cultivated them in surrogate cows. The animals are under a long-term study on effectiveness.
Will we see a certain class of people who are desired for their attibutes and use their stem cells to create children?
The mind boggles at all the possible consequences and/or benefits.
ping for your opinion
ping for your opinion
Such advances could eventually lead to cures for such debilitating and deadly diseases
NEWSFLASH: ADULT (OR NON-EMBRYONIC) STEM CELLS ARE ALREADY PROVIDING CURES FOR A NUMBER OF DISEASES! Don't be mislead by "promises" when you can have the real thing.
Hwang has been discredited as a being very unethical in his work due to the methods he has used in obtaining eggs. The slippery slope that embryonic stem cell and cloning is on is not only immoral, it has yet to yield any clear results. At the same time, the left has methodically downplayed ALL of the many breakthroughs in adult stem cells and umbilical cord cells.
Embryonic stem cell ping
The mind boggles at all the possible consequences and/or benefits. >>
Cloning and using embryos, harvesting babies for their body parts is barbaric, I'd say the consequences will be harsh, in this world or the next.
Here is a list of the safe, ethical and effective use of adult stem cells and not one baby had to be killed.
http://www.stemcellresearch.org/facts/treatments.htm
We shouldn't be playing God. And we don't need embryonic stem cells when we have adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells don't offer anything more. Not to mention the moral implications of the act.
I think it best to leave well enough alone. I don't see how cloning can cure a disease. It's a dangerous path. Just my two cents worth.
Thanks for the info Coleus.
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