A technical breakthrough has enabled scientists to create for the first time dozens of cloned embryos from adult monkeys, raising the prospect of the same procedure being used to make cloned human embryos.<\/p>\n
Attempts to clone human embryos for research have been dogged by technical problems and controversies over fraudulent research and questionable ethics. But the new technique promises to revolutionise the efficiency by which scientists can turn human eggs into cloned embryos.<\/p>\n
It is the first time that scientists have been able to create viable cloned embryos from an adult primate \u201d\u201c in this case a 10-year-old male rhesus macaque monkey \u201d\u201c and they are scheduled to report their findings later this month.<\/p>\n
The scientists will also demonstrate that they have been able to extract stem cells from some of the cloned embryos and that they have managed to encourage these embryonic cells to develop in the laboratory into mature heart cells and brain neurons.<\/p>\n
Scientists who know of the research said it was the breakthrough that they had all been waiting for because, until now, there was a growing feeling that there might be some insuperable barrier to creating cloned embryos from adult primates \u201d\u201c including humans.<\/p>\n
The development will not be welcomed in all quarters. Opponents of cloning will argue that the new technique of manipulating primate eggs to improve cloning efficiency will lead to increased attempts at creating \u201d\u201c and destroying \u201d\u201c cloned human embryos for research purposes.<\/p>\n