Boy will this upset the anti-gays
Ray
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Cottingham"
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To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 10:04 PM
Subject: Study: Stem Cells Could Develop Into Eggs


> The source of this article is AP: http://tinyurl.com/cose6
>
> Study: Stem Cells Could Develop Into Eggs By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
> 2 hours, 50 minutes ago
>
> Scientists in Britain have shown that stem cells extracted from human
> embryos can develop in the laboratory into the early forms of cells that
> become eggs or sperm. The research raises the possibility that one day
> eggs and sperm needed for infertility treatment could be grown in a dish.
>
> Preliminary experiments also suggest that scientists may eventually be
> able to use the technique to create a supply of eggs for cloning.
>
> But the more immediate benefit of the work could be a better understanding
> of why some men and women do not create their own sperm or eggs and
> whether toxic chemicals in the environment play a role, one of the
> researchers said before the start of the annual conference of the European
> Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. The findings were scheduled
> to be presented Monday in Copenhagen.
>
> "It may allow us to investigate the very earliest processes of how a human
> (ovary and testis) develops," said Harry Moore, a professor of
> reproductive and developmental medicine at Sheffield University in
> England.
>
> Many scientists believe that chemical pollutants, such as pesticides, that
> mimic the action of hormones, might interfere with human development at
> the stage where eggs and sperm - called germ cells - are forming and that
> this disruption may cause birth abnormalities, infertility and possibly
> cancer.
>
> "By developing suitable tests with embryonic stem cells as they
> differentiate into germ cells, we can investigate the action of these
> chemicals in the laboratory," Moore said.
>
> Stem cells are the master cells of the body, appearing when embryos are
> just a few days old and developing into every type of cell and tissue in
> the body, including sperm and eggs.
>
> Scientists can study the stem cells by extracting them from the embryo. If
> the researchers create the embryo by cloning a cell from a patient, any
> resulting cells would be a genetic match to the patient.
>
> The cloning technique, called cell nuclear replacement, involves emptying
> out the genetic material in an egg and replacing it with the genetic
> material of another cell, for example a skin cell from an adult. Instead
> of being fertilized by sperm, the newly reconstituted egg is bathed in
> chemical nutrients and electrocuted to shock it into dividing. It then
> evolves into an embryo, from which stem cells can be extracted.
>
> For infertile couples, that approach would eliminate the need for donor
> sperm or eggs.
>
> But any treatment using eggs and sperm grown from stem cells, let alone
> from stem cells extracted from a cloned embryo, may be many years away,
> Moore said.
>
> "We would need to prove that sperm or eggs produced in this way were safe
> before we could contemplate using them to treat patients," he said.
>
> Other experts said the advance from the University of Sheffield could also
> raise some ethical issues.
>
> "It opens new and challenging possibilities: because the technique can be
> used to generate eggs from a man's (adult) cells, gay couples could have
> children genetically related to both," said Anna Smajdor, a medical
> ethicist at Imperial College in London.
>
> "These possibilities raise new questions about how we define parenthood
> and about how we decide who has access to these new technologies," she
> said.
>
> Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The
> information contained in the AP News report may not be published,
> broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority
> of The Associated Press.
>
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