Report: Scientists clone 2 monkeys from embryos
March 2, 1997
Web posted at: 11:37 a.m. EST (1637 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Less than a week after Scottish
scientists announced they had successfully cloned an adult
sheep, a team of U.S. scientists said they have produced two
monkeys from cloned embryos, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Cloning animals from embryos is not new -- the Scottish
research team has cloned sheep from embryos before -- but
this would be the first time the technique had been used
successfully in primates.
In an interview with the Washington Post, the Oregon genetic
researchers said they have no plans to try cloning from adult
monkeys, an experiment that would carry the research a step
closer to the cloning of humans, something many find
abhorrent and morally wrong.
The genetic research on monkeys headed by Don Wolf, a senior
scientist at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center and
director of the human in vitro fertilization laboratory at
Oregon Health Sciences University, has not been formally
announced or published in any scientific journal.
Wolf's team told the Post they are trying to produce
genetically identical monkeys for research.
If successful, such clones could be used for things such as
drug experiments and reduce the number of animals now
necessary to compensate for genetic differences, the
researchers said.
The research might also lead to advancements in combating
infertility in older women by allowing an infertile woman's
genetic material to be inserted in a donor embryo.
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