Scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom have created what CNN labels as "synthetic human embryo-like structures" from stem cells – the first in the world – without use of eggs and sperm. Reportedly "at the very earliest stages" of human development (e.g., with neither a beating heart nor a brain), the structures may one day help advance the understanding of genetic diseases or the causes of miscarriages, say the researchers.
Research on human embryos has touched off ethics debates for years, and Dr. Tara Sander Lee of Charlotte Lozier Institute tells AFN this method is no different.
"They are creating human beings in order to do lab experimentation," she emphasizes. "They are basically creating human beings without God's permission, with a sole intention of experimentation, manipulating them, and ultimately destroying them.
"All research that creates, exploits, manipulates, and destroys human beings at any stage of development is inherently wrong."
One of the researchers told CNN there is "an urgent need" for regulations governing creation and use of stem cell-derived models of human embryos – much like already exists for embryos arising from in vitro fertilization.
Regulations or not, Lee contends the idea that the method creates synthetic embryos does not nullify the issue of ethics. "It does not negate the fact that they are ignoring the dignity of human life and using [the embryos] purely as a means to an end for research and experimentation. They are not protecting [or respecting] the sanctity of every human life …."
In fact, argues Dr. Lee, they are creating human life in order to destroy it for their own means and selfish gains.
