NO EMBRYOS were harmed in making these stem cells 鈥� that was the message of a press release issued by Nature on 21 August, and reported in New 杏吧原创 (26 August, p 10) and elsewhere. Bob Lanza and his colleagues at Advanced Cell Technology had derived human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) 鈥渨hile leaving the embryo intact鈥�, Nature explained. That could answer those who object to the destruction of human embryos for ESC research.
However, when scientists read the paper in detail they found that whereas in pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) a single cell is taken without harming the embryo, Lanza鈥檚 team repeatedly took cells from individual embryos. As a result the embryos did not survive.
Lanza argues that PGD is a routine technique, so it was not necessary to show that embryos could survive. 鈥淲e took each cell exactly as is done in PGD.鈥�
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鈥淎蝉 Nature was twice forced to correct its press release, critics seized on the confusion鈥�
But as Nature was twice forced to correct its press release, critics seized on the confusion. 鈥淎ll they showed was that you can kill an embryo at an earlier stage,鈥� Richard Doerflinger of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops told the Catholic News Service.
