Scientists Create First Human Synthetic Model Embryos

A new front has been breached in the technological manipulation of human life. Scientists have reported “successfully developing the first-ever synthetic human embryos.” Rather than taking pre-existing eggs and sperm from parents, these embryos have been created with genetic material derived from embryonic stem cells, they call them “model embryos”.

So the motive for creating such “model embryos,” is to get around legal and practical limitations surrounding research into the earliest stages of human life. That means that there has been a gap between what is legally permitted and what is practically available for researchers. This is where these synthetic human embryo models come in.

They are intended to be able to mimic the development of normal embryos beyond the legally permitted period. The researchers who have created these embryo models say that they are not viable to maturity and are not “human embryos.” But they are living organisms that have been artificially created to closely match the development of normal human embryos.