Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Plan to create human-cow embryos

BBC News reported UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs. Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence. The hybrid human-bovine embryos would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days

Stem Cel Research is now creating new human-cow species
.... They would insert human DNA into a cow's egg which has had its genetic material removed, and then create an embryo by the same technique that produced Dolly the Sheep. The resulting embryo would be 99.9% human; the only bovine element would be DNA outside the nucleus of the cell. It would, though, technically be a chimera - a mixing of two distinct species into one. The aim would be to extract stem cells from the embryo when it is six days old, before destroying it.

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