BEIJING : Scientists in China who created the world’s first cloned monkeys have said they do not plan to repeat the technique with humans.
The two genetically identical, long-tailed macaques, named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, were successfully created from somatic cells using the same technique behind Dolly the sheep, according to an article that Chinese researchers published on the scientific journal Cell.
While the achievement was seen as a breakthrough, critics have raised ethical concerns about the research and suggested it could lead to human cloning.
However, the Chinese scientists who carried out the research said their interest in cloning primates came from a strictly medical perspective.
“We have no plan to clone humans, and social ethics would by no means allow that practice,” Dr Mu-ming Poo, co-author of the macaque study, told Xinhua news agency.
As technology for the cloning of primates has been solved, theoretically humans can be cloned, said Poo, who directs the Institute of Neuroscience (ION) and Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
However, the macaque study was aimed at better understanding and treating human brain diseases, such as the Alzheimer’s and autism, he said. (AGENCIES)
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