Scientists develop stem cell harvesting without harming embryo

US SCIENTISTS say they have developed a way of harvesting stem cells without destroying the embryo they grow in.

The Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology removed embryonic stem cells from mice embryos with no apparent damage, the journal, Nature, said.

Scientists believe it would sidestep some ethical objections to stem cell research if repeated in humans. If successfully replicated in humans, stem cells taken from an embryo could be stored and used potentially to cure the individual in later life.

However, campaigners said they still had concerns and urged scientists to concentrate on other areas.

Stem cells are “master” cells that can become many kinds of tissue. Those harvested from early-stage human embryos are thought to hold the most potential for research. Taken a few days after fertilisation, these cells have the power to produce any type of cell in the body and are considered powerful if scientists can learn how to direct their development.

Opponents say that any destruction or even manipulation of a human embryo is immoral.

Use of embryonic stem cells is opposed by many on the grounds that it involves destroying an embryo.

Lead researcher Robert Lanza, of Advanced Cell Technology, said the new technique could allow scientists to create a bank of personal cells for children before they are born to treat diseases later in life.

He added it might provide a way of diffusing the row over the ethics of embryonic stem cell research.

Meanwhile, a separate study in Nature by a team at the US Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is also being touted as a way round the ethical concerns.

By modifying DNA, researchers were able to create an embryo in mice trials which could never develop in the womb but could still be used to get stem cells.

The scientists said the embryo could not be regarded as a potential life.

But Josephine Quintavalle, of the Britain-based Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said neither technique answered their concerns.

“On the first one, there is no evidence yet that taking stem cells will not cause harm later on. Both still interfere with the natural process, and you have to ask why someone would want these stem cells.”