Embryos

-The U.K. House of Commons has passed a bill that allows human/animal embryos to be created by cloning and the bill also allows these "embryos" to be used in scientific experiments.-In the U.K. you can now be cloned without your consent.-October 21st was the 5th annual pro-life "Day of Silent Solidarity" and more than 200,000 students from over 4,700 schools in 25 countries participated in the eve

- Science Research Gone Mad -Scientists Create “Cytoplasmic Hybrids” or “Cybrids”Part Animal/Part Human No Longer MythologyBritish scientists will be allowed to research devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s using human-animal embryos, after the House of Commons rejected a ban yesterday.The main kinds of admixed embryo permitted by the Bill are “cytoplasmic hybrids

Publisher: WileyNumber Of Pages: 562Publication Date: 2006-07-11Sales Rank: 1608082ISBN / ASIN: 0470090103EAN: 9780470090107Binding: HardcoverBook Description:The first edition of Embryos, Genes and Birth Defects, edited by the late Peter Thorogood, was a radical new book aimed at bridging the gap between the medical disciplines of embryology and dysmorphology, and recent advances in cellular, molecular and developmental biology. This new edition remains unique in its breadth and brings up to date our understanding of birth defects and of the strategies utilized to gain such knowledge. It features new chapters on human cytogenetics, mutagenesis and the eyes and ears. The book presents key topics in developmental biology and explains how they provide the foundations for understanding clinic

British scientists have created human embryos with three parents in a development they hope could lead to effective treatments for a range of serious hereditary diseases within five years.Researchers from Newcastle University, in northern England, presented their findings at a medical conference at the weekend, a university spokeswoman said on Tuesday.The IVF, or test-tube, embryos were created using DNA from one man and two women.The idea is to prevent women with faults in their mitochondrial DNA passing diseases on to their children. Around one in 5,000 children suffer from mitochondrial diseases, which can include fatal liver, heart and brain disorders, deafness, muscular problems and forms of epilepsy.If all goes well, researchers believe they may be able to start offering the techniqu

British scientists say they have created human embryos containing DNA from two women and a man in a procedure that researchers hope might be used one day to produce embryos free of inherited diseases. Though the preliminary research has raised concerns about the possibility of genetically modified babies, the scientists say that the embryos are still only primarily the product of one man and one woman. "We are not trying to alter genes, we're just trying to swap a small proportion of the bad ones for some good ones," - said Patrick Chinnery, a professor of neurogenetics at Newcastle University involved in the research. The process aims to create healthy embryos for couples to avoid passing on genes carrying diseases. The genes being replaced are the mitochondria, a cell's energy so

I read that someday, we'll be able to create supplies of stem cells from skin cells. This means that making use of discarded embryos will no longer be an issue, and can no longer be used as an excuse to delay research into the field of stem cells.I for one think stem cells have tremendous unexplored potential, with both restorative and preventative applications. Just think, if someone bound to a wheelchair today could walk and function better tomorrow thanks to stem cells, and no unborn children were manipulated to produce that result, then what's to complain about?I believe this new development will allow legislation permitting stem cell research to get the green light. Good deal.

The stem cell research described below was accomplished with the aid of an executive order signed by President Bush (the executive order can be seen here). Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy. Laboratory teams on... Click the Headline Link to Visit Copious Dissent and Read the Full Story.

Source: Reuters. By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Two separate teams of researchers announced on Tuesday they had transformed ordinary skin cells into batches of cells that look and act like embryonic stem cells — but without using cloning technology and without making embryos. Their breakthroughs could make possible the long-sought goal of tailor-made medicine, but without the political, scientific and ethical roadblock of using human embryos. Both teams call the new cells induced pluripotent stem cells and say they look and act like embryonic stem cells — the master cells that give rise to every cell and tissue in the body. “We can now envisage a time when a simple approach can be used to produce stem cells that are able to form any tissue from a small sample taken from any of us,” Ian Wilmut of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement. “This will have enormou

Source: MSNBC.com: Monkey embryos cloned, scientists say Humanity is one step closer to human cloning. Recently, some researches in that state of Oregon claim to have successfully cloned monkey embryos and extracted stem cells. This is supposed to pave the way for the procedure to be done in humans. This still does not make the controversy go away. The debate has raged for years about whether or not it is ethical and moral to obtain stem cells from embryos. When stem cells are harvested from embryos, the embryo does not survive. The situation would all go away we just started using adult stem cells. There is no controversy in this area because… well the human is destroyed in the process. And neither are embryos. The problem is that we, as a society, have put so much money into embryonic stem cell research. It isn’t cheap to suddenly switch over to harvest adult stem cells. Well I think we should just deal with it. Let’s just assume the burden of the cost. The poten

With women of advanced maternal age having put off having their babies until late in life, I'm hearing more and more discussion about the fate of frozen eggs and embryos. I'm surprised that nobody's given the fate of these precious little bits of life some thought before now. What happens to the frozen eggs if the mom never uses them? Are there any laws on the books for this situation? One discussion that I heard said that maybe they should be part of a person's legacy and left to their children. I can see where this might be a viable solution. What if something happened that your daughter's eggs were damaged and she couldn't have children? Having a few of mom's unfertilized eggs lying around could really simplify things (and reduce the cost of?) in case she needed to opt for in vitro fertilization. What is the shelf life of human frozen embryos anyway? On the other hand, what if you have no children and the future of your fertilized or unfertilized eggs needs to be decid

Review"It is written with exemplary clarity and charm..." Nature Book DescriptionAimed primarily at a general readership and college students of biology, this book focuses on the question of how embryonic development changes in the course of evolution, thus giving rise to new types of creatures. It takes the view that biases in the ways that embryos can be altered are as important as natural selection in determining the directions that evolution has taken, including the one that led to the origin of humans.RAPIDSHARE DOWNLOAD

Infertility Patients With Unused Embryos Say They Would Give Them To Stem Cell Research (AP) A majority of couples with stored embryos from fertility treatments say they would be willing to donate unused embryos for stem cell research, says a doctor who surveyed patients. “Large numbers of infertility patients … support using embryos for research, and these are people who have invested emotionally and financially in these embryos,” Dr. Anne Drapkin Lyerly of Duke University said in a telephone interview Wednesday. Use of stem cells derived from embryos is a moral issue that has troubled politicians, religious and medical leaders and couples with stored embryos. And it’s an issue with strong advocates on both sides. The problem is, obtaining stem cells kills the embryo. Many see this as wrong and argue that they are protecting life. That’s what led President Bush to veto a bill Wednesday that would have eased limits on using embryos in research. Others point out t

Three separate groups of scientists working in Japan and the US have used skin cells from adult mice to make cells that are inidistinguishable from embryonic stem cells. Scientists all over the world are now racing to replicate the remarkably simple method in humans, and if successful it could one day lessen or remove the need to use embryos.The three studies are published in the early online edition of the journal Nature.Embryonic stem cells are cells that can renew themselves indefinitely and can differentiate into any cell of the body. They have the potential to replace damaged tissue such as that found in degenerative diseases like Parkinson's but their therapeutic use is controversial because of the ethical questions surrounding the destruction of embryos and making human clones.As well as posing ethical difficulties, harvesting stem cells from embryos for therapeutic use would be expensive and difficult. The genetic material from unfertilized eggs has to be replaced with that fr

A major shift of position by ministers today cleared the way for scientists to create hybrid animal-human embryos for stem cell research.The move followed a White Paper proposal banning the hybrids that attracted criticism from scientists, charities, patient groups and MPs.Today the Government published a draft Bill that effectively sweeps away the ban. Under the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, scientists will be allowed to produce "cytoplasmic" hybrid embryos that are 99.9% human and 0.1% animal.The Bill goes further and permits human embryos to be altered by the introduction of animal DNA.Health Minister Caroline Flint, the Bill's chief architect, denies that the Government had staged a climbdown.She said that while recommending a "general prohibition", the White Paper had always left the door open for specific research to be allowed on a case-by-case basis.But the immediate ban called for by the White Paper has now been removed.The Bill also allows human-animal chimeras - human embr

Are just wrong on so many levels.Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I can't begin to understand the reconfiguring your own species for ego stroking, money and power - because it's not about helping anyone.I think they crossed that line looong ago. It's about being the first - about playing mad scientist - about playing God. Human beings are the worst kind of people. Truly.So, the United Kingdom passed a bill that will allow the creation of chimeras - an organism consisting of at least two genetically different kinds of tissue - and other kinds of interspecies embryos.Actually, there are three types.The first, known as a chimeric embryo, is made by injecting cells from an animal into a human embryo. The second, known as a human transgenic embryo, involves injecting animal DNA into a human embryo.The third, known as a cytoplasmic hybrid, is created by transferring the nuclei of human cells, such as skin cells, into animal eggs from which almost all the genetic material