BRITISH scientists have created a cloned human embryo for the first time, placing the country in the vanguard of a technology with the potential to cure conditions such as Parkinson’s, diabetes and paralysis.

The Newcastle University team has become only the second to achieve the feat, crowning a momentous day that underlines the pace at which the science is moving.

Their announcement came as the South Korean researchers who pioneered human cloning last year announced breakthroughs that bring its medical promise closer to reality.

In 15 months, the group led by Professor Woo Suk Hwang, of Seoul National University, has dramatically improved its techniques and established a production line for cloned cells. It has now made 11 batches with genes from patients.

These advances pave the way for using cloned embryonic stem cells — master cells that can form any tissue in the body — to create spare part tissue for treating disease.

Stem cells could eventually be taken from cloned embryos that are genetically identical to patients and grown into replacements for damaged tissue. These cells would carry the patient’s genes and could be transplanted without risk of rejection by the immune system.

While therapies for Parkinson’s or diabetes are probably a decade away, other benefits could come more quickly. Cloned cells are also valuable for testing drugs, possibly providing an alternative to animal experiments.

The research has reignited controversy over the ethics of human cloning even for therapeutic purposes, which is outlawed in much of the world.

Critics said that the new research would assist efforts to produce a cloned baby as the methods involved are virtually identical, although both research teams oppose this.

The critics also objected to the destruction of embryonic life and said that any form of cloning insults human dignity.

The Newcastle clone is the biggest success so far for the Government’s liberal approach. Parliament voted in 2001 to allow therapeutic cloning. Reproductive cloning is banned.

The embryo was created by a team led by Professor Alison Murdoch and Miodrag Stoj- kovic, a Serb-born scientist who moved to Britain to take advantage of the law. They received a licence to attempt the procedure last August.

They produced three cloned embryos, one of which survived to the blastocyst stage of about 100 cells, at which stem cells can be collected. Unlike the Koreans, they did not manage to extract any stem cells. The embryos were cloned using eggs left over from fertility treatment and were not clones of any living person: genetic material injected during the procedure came from stem cells derived from normal embryos.

The Korean group have produced 11 colonies of embryonic stem cells from 31 cloned blastocysts and 185 eggs. Their success rate was 16 times better than last year, when 242 eggs were needed to make a solitary stem cell line.

All these cells are clones of patients with type 1 diabetes, spinal injuries or an immune system disease. Genetic testing has confirmed that the cells would be immunologically compatible were they to be transplanted, but it is too early to attempt this safely.

Professor Hwang said: “We are bringing science a step forward towards the day when some of humankind’s most devastating diseases and injuries can be treated through the use of therapeutic stem cells.”

His colleague, Professor Gerry Schatten, of the University of Pittsburgh, said: “Now that Professor Hwang is able to derive cells from patients, we can understand the root cause of their diseases. The implication of this is extraordinary.”

Right-to-life groups were dismayed by both developments. Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: “To seek to cure disease by eliminating early human beings is simply not acceptable. Perfecting the technique will also make it easier and easier for those who want to do reproductive cloning to follow suit.”

Other ethicists, however, said it would be immoral not to proceed. Professor Julian Savulescu, of Oxford University, said: “To fail to develop therapies that would save 100,000 people is morally equivalent to killing 100,000 people.”

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