Scientists take step closer to human clones

One of the obstacles to human cloning has been cleared by scientists who used skin to generate embryonic stem cells.

The advance, described as a “milestone”, is expected to aid the development of stem cell therapies that avoid fertilised human embryos. However, since it employs a cloning technique, it is certain to fuel controversy over leading edge science.

The US scientists said they were not interested in cloning humans and did not believe their methods could successfully be used in this way. However, the therapeutic cloning technique they employed would also be the start of the process of making duplicate humans.