Monkey embryos cloned for stem cells

Researchers in Oregon have successfully created cloned monkey embryos from which they extracted stem cells.

The Washington Post's Web site delved deeper into this controversial issue stating, "Successful creation of the cloned embryos, each from a single monkey skin cell, effectively settles a long-standing scientific debate about whether primates -- the taxonomic grouping that includes monkeys and people -- are biologically incapable of being cloned, as some had come to believe after years of failures."

This is the first time such cells have been produced in an animal but according to researchers, the same method could be used on humans.

Many are optimistic about what this scientific breakthrough could mean for the future.

"We hope the technology will be useful for other labs that are working on human eggs and human cells," the lead researcher of the group, Shoukhrat Mitalipov at Oregon Health and Science University in Beaverton, said in a telephone interview. "I am quite sure it will work in humans."

The Reuters Web site explained the stem cell process in some detail: "Embryonic stem cells are the source of every cell, tissue and organ in the body. Scientists study them to understand the biology of disease and want to use them to transform medicine."

The ultimate goal of using stem cells is to use them to study diseases and utilize those cells to form a beneficial treatment. Yet, so far stem cells have not yielded any cures for any diseases and have been met with swift and loud opposition.