Advanced Cell Technology's (ACT) announcement that it has created human embryos for therapeutic cloning made headlines across the world but received a mixed reception. As the UK's The Guardian summed up, 'The announcement ... has been hoped for and feared in equal measure and will arouse fierce passions on all sides.'

Some embryos were produced by somatic-cell nuclear transfer and survived to six cells, whereas others were created by parthenogenetic activation, as published in E-biomed: The Journal of Regenerative Medicine. Despite ACT's upbeat media briefings, most newspapers reported the experiments as failures, as the embryos died before stem cells could be isolated. '“It's a complete failure,” said Dr George Siedel, a cloning expert at Colorado State University.' ( New York Times).

This research raises many ethical and regulatory dilemmas for governments. Although US federal funds cannot be used for such research, privately funded scientists are under no such restriction. 'Several members of congress yesterday vowed to place the legality issue on top of their agendas.' ( Washington Post).

In the UK, therapeutic cloning research is regulated by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, but the ProLife Alliance has recently argued successfully that 'the Act setting up the HFEA did not give it authority over embryos produced other than by normal fertilisation.' ( The Daily Telegraph).

Religious and anti-abortion groups also condemned the research. Italy's Archbishop of Ravenna said '... scientists claim that human life doesn't exist until implantation ... An embryo has dignity from the first moment.' ( La Repubblica).