Cloned Human Embryos Seen Inevitable

"The past, present and future of stem cell research was the focus of a St. Louis news briefing on Friday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science — the very same forum where Hwang made such a splash in 2004."

Ethicists are gearing up for a new wave of social and political debate while stem cell researchers are getting over their deep disappointment concerning last year's scandal over faked cloning experiments in South Korea, and moving ahead with new discoveries.

Scientists on both sides of the debate said that it's likely just a matter of time before someone really does produce stem cells from cloned human embryos

"Probably over the next couple of years, this will be done," said Leonard Zon, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston. "I think the individual steps are solvable."

Some of the speakers at Friday's forum still felt stung by the affair — not only because they were misled, but because it turned out that Hwang's female subordinates were pressured to donate their own eggs. Northwestern University bioethicist Laurie Zoloth said anyone who played even an inadvertent role in Hwang's deception, including herself as well as the research community and even science journalists, should join in a mass apology...


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