Ethics Newsline®

BOSTON
Scientists at Harvard University are set to make their firststeps into one of the most ethically explosive areas of science: cloning humanstem cells.

The Boston Globe reported that the researchers willattempt to create the first cloned human embryonic stem cells, with hopes ofdeveloping tissues that could be used to rejuvenate body systems ravaged bydiseases such as diabetes, ALS, and sickle-cell anemia.

Stem cell research is the center of ethics controversy onseveral fronts. Critics claim that experimenting with day-old embryos violatesthe sanctity of human life and that harvesting eggs from donors puts women atrisk.

Bloomberg noted that the Harvard researchers are attemptingto accomplish what South Korean scientists falsely claimed to have done. TheKorean scandal has resulted in the criminal indictment of one of that nation’spremier scientists and destroyed South Korea’s plans to become a worldwide hubof stem-cell research.

According to the Harvard Crimson, the researchproject was approved after more than two years of ethical and scientificreviews by eight separate panels.

All of the work is funded by private donations becausePresident Bush banned the use of federal funding to create new lines of humanembryonic stem cells, Time magazine reported.