Stem cells created without destroying human embryos

NEW YORK: In a significant development, biologists here have developed a technique for establishing colonies of stem cells without destroying human embryos.

This method would seem to remove the principal objection to the research, said the 'New York Times', reporting the finding by researchers at Advanced Cell Technology which is being published in the journal 'Nature'.

Research on human embryonic stem cells give rise to the cells and tissues of the body and scientists and patient advocate groups see it as a potential source for treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.

But the new method had little immediate effect on longstanding objections of the White House and some Congressional leaders, the paper said.

It also brought objections from critics who warned of possible risk to the embryo and the in vitro fertilization procedure itself, in which embryos are generated from a couple's egg and sperm.

The new technique, the Times said, would be performed on a two-day-old embryo, after the fertilized egg has divided into eight cells, known as blastomeres.

In fertility clinics, where the embryo is available outside the woman in the normal course of in vitro fertilization, one of these blastomeres can be removed for diagnostic tests, like for Down Syndrome.

The embryo, now with seven cells, can be implanted in the woman if no defect is found. Many such embryos have grown into apparently healthy babies over the 10 years or so the diagnostic tests have been used, the paper reported.