Test-tube hermaphrodite condemned by scientists

[Guest guest]

Test-tube hermaphrodite condemned by scientists

July 4 2003

 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/03/1057179097764.html

 

An experiment that led to the deliberate creation of a hermaphrodite human

embryo has been condemned as irresponsible by fertility scientists.

 

The chimera - named after the Greek monster that was part lion, part serpent

and part goat - was formed by placing cells from a newly conceived male

embryo into a three-day-old female embryo.

 

The resulting embryo was part male and part female and could potentially

have developed into an apparently healthy foetus. It was destroyed.

 

The American fertility doctor behind the experiment claimed the creation of

chimeras could eventually be used to treat genetic diseases by passing on

genes from healthy embryos to siblings with defective genes.

 

But mainstream scientists said the research was pointless and could endanger

the reputation of serious embryo research.

 

 

Chimeras can occur naturally when twin embryos fuse in the womb soon after

conception. The resulting babies contain genetic material from both embryos.

 

In the past, researchers have created animal chimeras including a

goat-sheep.

 

Details of the experiment were presented at the European Society for Human

Reproduction and Embryology in Madrid on Wednesday by Dr Norbert Gleicher,

the head of a private American fertility clinic.

 

Dr Gleicher and colleagues took cells from three-day-old male embryos and

inserted them into 21 female embryos at the same stage of development.

 

Three days after conception, embryos consist of about eight primitive stem

cells from which the entire human body and placenta derive.

 

Male cells, carrying the Y sex chromosome, were used to allow the team to

easily track the distribution of the donor cells in the developing embryo.

After three days, the male cells appeared to be evenly distributed in 12 of

the chimeras, he told the conference. The donated embryos were destroyed

soon after.

 

Dr Gleicher said chimeras could help treat genetic diseases such as severe

combined immunodeficiency by passing on genes from healthy embryos to

siblings with defective genes.

 

However, Professor Lynn Fraser, a fertility specialist of King's College,

London, questioned the point of the experiments and whether chimeras could

ever be used to treat single gene disorders.

 

The creation of human chimeras is illegal in Britain

 

Professor Alan Trounson, of Monash IVF clinic in Melbourne, one of the

pioneers of IVF treatment and stem cell research, said: " It doesn't make any

sense to me. It seems completely flawed. "

 

The Telegraph, London

 

 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/02/1056825458747.html

Baby born with four legs and three hands

July 3 2003

A Zambian woman has given birth to a baby girl with four legs and three

hands, a senior doctor said.

 

University Teaching Hospital pediatric consultant surgeon Lupando Munkonge

said the as-yet unnamed baby also had three kidneys and an abnormal liver,

but her condition was stable and her mother was in good health.

 

 

Mind over matter

July 3 2003

 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/02/1056825460768.html

 

It has been hailed as the answer to several mental disorders, but the

challenge is getting people to change their thinking. Steve Dow reports.

 

 

 

Birds' lives cut short by junk food diet

July 3 2003

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/02/1056825460446.html

 

An early diet of junk food makes it harder to fight off the ravages of old

age, scientists have found.