'Not Just Everyday Blobs:' California Scientist Calls for Urgent Summit on Human Embryo Model Research
A California stem cell researcher is sounding a cautionary note on the creation of “highly realistic human embryo models,” declaring that a “summit” is urgently needed to air the ethical and social issues.
“To me, while human embryo models are clearly not people, they also are not just everyday blobs of cells,” said Paul Knoepfler, professor at the University of California, Davis. “There is something special about them. Instrumentalizing them, particularly for commercialization, comes with risks and tough dilemmas.”
Knoepfler warned that competition among scientists is heating up in what he called “the race to be first.”
