As Scientists Create Synthetic Human Embryos, Who is Protecting Our Children?
Updated
If germ-free artificial wombs to raise in-vitro-created gene-edited embryos from parents’ eggs and sperm weren’t enough, scientists are now one step closer to eliminating the need for human sperm and eggs altogether. That’s right, scientists from the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology recently announced they had created the world’s first synthetic human embryos using stem cells, bypassing the need for eggs or sperm.
With research not yet published, the scientists spoke of their accomplishment in an address on Wednesday at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Boston. The research raises serious legal and ethical questions since many countries, including the UK, currently lack regulations around the creation and manipulation of synthetic embryos. Speaking of the unprecedented dilemma, James Briscoe, associate research director at the Francis Crick Institute in London, expressed in a statement:
“Unlike human embryos arising from in vitro fertilisation (IVF), where there is an established legal framework, there are currently no clear regulations governing stem cell-derived models of human embryos. There is an urgent need for regulations to provide a framework for the creation and use of stem cell-derived models of human embryos.”
Describing how the synthetic embryos are cultivated—a feat she and others have raced to accomplish for months—Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of Cambridge explained that by reprogramming embryonic stem cells, scientists were able to create “human embryo-like models.” In 2022, before producing an embryo with human cells, Zernicka-Goetz’s research group and the Weizmann Institute in Israel revealed that stem cells from mice could self-organize into early embryo-like structures, exhibiting features like an intestinal tract, the initial stages of a brain, and a beating heart. Since then, they’ve been on a mission to reach the same results using human cells. Zernicka-Goetz shared with the Guardian:
“Our human model is the first three-lineage human embryo model that specifies amnion and germ cells, precursor cells of egg and sperm.
It’s beautiful and created entirely from embryonic stem cells.”
Currently, the structures do not have a beating heart or the beginnings of a brain. However, they do include cells that would typically develop to form the placenta, yolk sac, and the embryo itself. Still, since it is currently illegal to move further in this line of research, the question remains if the embryo-like structure would continue to grow and thrive if implanted in a patient’s womb or, for that matter, placed inside an artificial womb facility. Beyond that, are they capable of growing into living creatures?
Synthetic embryos grown from mouse cells were nearly identical to natural embryos. But when they were implanted into the wombs of female mice, they did not develop into live animals. Additionally, in April, researchers in China concocted synthetic embryos from monkey cells and implanted them into the wombs of adult monkeys. A few of them displayed the initial signs of pregnancy, but none continued to develop beyond a few days. According to Robin Lovell-Badge, the head of stem cell biology and development genetics at Francis Cook Institute, scientists are uncertain whether the obstacle to more advanced development is simply technical or has a more fundamental biological cause.
With scientists only allowed to grow embryos in the lab up to a permitted legal limit of 14 days, the Guardian reports that the inspiration behind the work is so researchers can understand the “black box” period of development that exists between the 14 days and when they pick up the research much further along by examining pregnancy scans and embryos donated for study. The structures were each grown from a single embryonic stem cell, reaching the stage of development when the embryo transforms from being a continuous sheet of cells to forming distinct cell lines and setting up the primary axes of the body. This milestone is known as gastrulation. Lovell-Badge explained:
“The idea is that if you really model normal human embryonic development using stem cells, you can gain an awful lot of information about how we begin development, what can go wrong, without having to use early embryos for research.”
Many birth defects arise during the “black box” period. Thus, by genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and tinkering with humanity, scientists hope to find a way to alter new human life to prevent them from being passed on. Interestingly, however, these congenital abnormalities are often the result of things that can usually be controlled or avoided with proper intention, information, and supervision. That’s right, alcohol abuse, the medications prescribed and pushed onto humanity by the billion-dollar Big Pharma industry (as well as governments around the globe mandating the gene-damaging mRNA COVID jabs), infections, and chemicals are the direct cause of many abnormalities in the world’s children that materialize during early embryonic development.
As mad scientists race to create synthetic superhumans to usher in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the elephant in the room is the simple question: isn’t there a better way? Instead of altering human beings at the embryonic stage to avoid man-made, often avoidable tragedies—with the future of the world’s children at stake—shouldn’t the entire system instead focus on eradicating the root causes of the problem?
VIDEO: Klaus Schwab | “The Difference of This Fourth Industrial Revolution Is That It Changes YOU If You Take the Genetic Editing.”
