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CNN Live Today

Daily Dose

Aired May 02, 2003 - 11:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You might want to sit down for this one. Scientists in Pennsylvania say that they have turned ordinary mouse embryo cells into egg cells. And this is raising questions about whether human egg cells can be created just from cells from a body, and not necessarily from a woman's body, to create an egg. That's opening the door to all kinds of biological and ethical issues. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is following the story. She's in Washington right now with our daily dose segment of health news.
All right, Elizabeth, explain this one to us.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Okay, Leon. I'll try to explain it in the simplest terms possible. Let's look at what these University of Pennsylvania researchers did. They took an egg and they took a sperm. You see that little sperm swimming in there. And they created what are called embryonic stem cells. So what you'll see is this little straw is taking out those embryonic stem cells. They put them in a petrie dish.

Now, what they did, that it appears other people haven't done before, is they turned those stem cells into eggs. So, in other words what they did is they created eggs in the lab.

Scientifically speaking, this is very exciting research. Many people of course would have ethical concerns about this, about creating one of the two ingredients needed for reproduction, eggs and sperm are the two. And they created one of them in the lab. So it opens up a whole slew of ethical issues. Now, the next step would be, can you take those lab-made eggs, put sperm into them and create babies out of these lab-made eggs. They haven't tried it yet. That's the next big question.

Leon?

HARRIS: Well, one of the other big questions that's come up this morning, Elizabeth, is whether or not this means that men, specifically gay men, couples, could have babies without necessarily getting an egg from a female donor?

COHEN: Right. There's a reporter in a newspaper who sort of brought up that whole question. And the answer is that if you took what the University of Pennsylvania researchers did and said, let's assume this, this, this, this , this, this, and took it many, many steps beyond where it is, the answer is maybe you could have two men being able to create a baby based on this research. Actually, I asked one of the foremost scientific experts on stem cells what he thought of this. I said, could two gay men have a baby based on this research? And he said this means - this meaning this research - this research means that two gay might - might - be able to have a baby, and he emphasized the word might. So this could be very good news if you're a gay mouse. But it does not necessarily mean that gay men would be able to have a baby as a result of this.

HARRIS: It still brings to mind the next question is : What happens after the eggs are created? I mean, do they get implanted in a woman, in a guy or what? I mean, do they even know that much, Elizabeth?

COHEN: Right. Excellent question. Even if it did mean that you could take genetic material from one man and join it up with genetic material from another man, first of all, you would need a woman's egg to put that genetic material into. In other words, you'd need sort of the casing, if you would, of an egg to put the man's genetic material into. So you'd still need a woman's egg. And you would still need a woman to implant this whole embryo into so that it could gestate for nine months. So you would need at least one and maybe two women to help those two men have a baby. They would not be able to have a baby just on their own.

HARRIS: You'd have to talk somebody into that one. That's a good one there.

COHEN: That's right; that's right.

HARRIS: All right, so what is the point, then, of doing all this kind of research?

COHEN: Well, the point is something called therapeutic cloning, Leon. And that is where you basically are creating human tissues and other body parts in order to help people who have diseases. That's the road that many scientists want to go down. They say that this holds great promise for helping many people with various diseases and disorders.

HARRIS: I can just see and hear all the arguments that are waiting to get started about life, does it start, when it starts, and all that sort of stuff too..

COHEN: Those arguments will go on and on and on.

HARRIS: And on and on and on. Thanks, Elizabeth. All right. Have a good weekend. See you soon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired May 2, 2003 - 11:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You might want to sit down for this one. Scientists in Pennsylvania say that they have turned ordinary mouse embryo cells into egg cells. And this is raising questions about whether human egg cells can be created just from cells from a body, and not necessarily from a woman's body, to create an egg. That's opening the door to all kinds of biological and ethical issues. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is following the story. She's in Washington right now with our daily dose segment of health news.
All right, Elizabeth, explain this one to us.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Okay, Leon. I'll try to explain it in the simplest terms possible. Let's look at what these University of Pennsylvania researchers did. They took an egg and they took a sperm. You see that little sperm swimming in there. And they created what are called embryonic stem cells. So what you'll see is this little straw is taking out those embryonic stem cells. They put them in a petrie dish.

Now, what they did, that it appears other people haven't done before, is they turned those stem cells into eggs. So, in other words what they did is they created eggs in the lab.

Scientifically speaking, this is very exciting research. Many people of course would have ethical concerns about this, about creating one of the two ingredients needed for reproduction, eggs and sperm are the two. And they created one of them in the lab. So it opens up a whole slew of ethical issues. Now, the next step would be, can you take those lab-made eggs, put sperm into them and create babies out of these lab-made eggs. They haven't tried it yet. That's the next big question.

Leon?

HARRIS: Well, one of the other big questions that's come up this morning, Elizabeth, is whether or not this means that men, specifically gay men, couples, could have babies without necessarily getting an egg from a female donor?

COHEN: Right. There's a reporter in a newspaper who sort of brought up that whole question. And the answer is that if you took what the University of Pennsylvania researchers did and said, let's assume this, this, this, this , this, this, and took it many, many steps beyond where it is, the answer is maybe you could have two men being able to create a baby based on this research. Actually, I asked one of the foremost scientific experts on stem cells what he thought of this. I said, could two gay men have a baby based on this research? And he said this means - this meaning this research - this research means that two gay might - might - be able to have a baby, and he emphasized the word might. So this could be very good news if you're a gay mouse. But it does not necessarily mean that gay men would be able to have a baby as a result of this.

HARRIS: It still brings to mind the next question is : What happens after the eggs are created? I mean, do they get implanted in a woman, in a guy or what? I mean, do they even know that much, Elizabeth?

COHEN: Right. Excellent question. Even if it did mean that you could take genetic material from one man and join it up with genetic material from another man, first of all, you would need a woman's egg to put that genetic material into. In other words, you'd need sort of the casing, if you would, of an egg to put the man's genetic material into. So you'd still need a woman's egg. And you would still need a woman to implant this whole embryo into so that it could gestate for nine months. So you would need at least one and maybe two women to help those two men have a baby. They would not be able to have a baby just on their own.

HARRIS: You'd have to talk somebody into that one. That's a good one there.

COHEN: That's right; that's right.

HARRIS: All right, so what is the point, then, of doing all this kind of research?

COHEN: Well, the point is something called therapeutic cloning, Leon. And that is where you basically are creating human tissues and other body parts in order to help people who have diseases. That's the road that many scientists want to go down. They say that this holds great promise for helping many people with various diseases and disorders.

HARRIS: I can just see and hear all the arguments that are waiting to get started about life, does it start, when it starts, and all that sort of stuff too..

COHEN: Those arguments will go on and on and on.

HARRIS: And on and on and on. Thanks, Elizabeth. All right. Have a good weekend. See you soon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com