South Koreans Clone Four-Cell Human Embryo

The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal reported on December 17, 1998 that Dr. Lee Bo Yeon [Bo-yon], M.D., of Kyunghee [Kyonghee] University Hospital in Seoul, South Korea has cloned a human embryo using the "Honolulu Technique," but terminated their experiment at the four-cell stage. (Note that, in humans, the first four cell divisions happen relatively automatically after fertilization; only at the 16-cell stage do the embryo's own genes become activated in order to drive further embryogenesis, so we really don't have enough data yet to support their claim that they had a viable human embryo.) The team actually replaced the nucleus of a woman's egg with that of one of her own somatic cells.

Unhappily, there were was no photographic evidence presented and there will be no scientific publication. From this isolated experiment. Therefore, we have another example of "science by press conference" instead of scientific progress by traditional peer review. Nevertheless, there appears to be an emerging consensus within the scientific community that cloning techniques are now more efficient than they were two years ago when Dolly the sheep was created by Dr, Ian Wilmut in Scotland. Therefore, it's only a matter of "when" not "whether" cloning of human embryos will begin in earnest, regardless of the ethical debates that are taking place in various state and national legislatures throughout the world. Opponents of cloning aim to pass laws to prohibit this technology, since they contend that such research amounts to the "killing" of human embryos and could speed progress toward the "immoral" cloning of human adults. On the other hand, at a recent U.S. Senate hearing two three weeks ago, experts from Geron Corp. argued in favor of human cloning suggesting that human embryonic stem cells could supply a source for replacement tissues for patients with Alzheimer's Disease, diabetes, and other diseases.

The Los Angeles Times (Associated Press) reported on Saturday, December 19^th that the South Korean Government cannot stop "maverick doctors" from forging ahead with this controversial procedure. Therefore, the government does not plan to take any legal action against Dr. Bo-yon or the other scientists involved. However, the South Korean National Assembly has declared its intention to pass a new law next month "banning research on human cloning."