It is the first time scientists have used a technique called parthenogenesis on human cells.Parthenogenesis is a form of reproduction in which the egg develops without fertilisation. The phenomenon occurs naturally in many insects, while artificial parthenogenesis has been achieved in almost all groups of animals, although it usually results in abnormal development.
No successful experiments with human parthenogenesis have previously been reported. But researchers from Stemron report in the journal Stem Cells that they have successfully used artificial parthenogenesis in humans and that the cells taken from one of the embryos survived for a number of days.
From The Rainbow Cadenza by J. Neil Schulman, Simon & Schuster, 1983:
Jaeger looked back and forth between Eleanor and Vera. “Excuse an old man for staring, but I can’t help studying your remarkable resemblance to your mother. We don’t have very many clones in the habitats. Different eugenic goals, you know.”Vera concealed her annoyance; she knew the word “clone” was used less precisely in the colonies—the “habitats,” she must remember to say around Jaeger, if she didn’t want to provoke war. “I’m my mother’s twin,” she told Jaeger, “by parthenogenesis. The process doesn’t produce the various inadequacies that clones suffer from.”
“Forgive me my error,” Jaeger said. “I didn’t mean to insult you. But I must say it was rather my impression that such ‘inadequacies’ resulted from nurture rather than nature.”
“Hear, hear,” Wendell said.
Vera flushed deeply but avoided looking at Wendell. “Some people,” she told Jaeger, “reject any scientific conclusion that doesn’t happen to support their convictions.”
“Some people do indeed,” Wendell said.
“Maestro,” said Stanton, “you’ve just walked into the middle of one of the most hotly debated political issues on the planet.”
I love being a science fiction writer.