Spanish Researchers Want to Tag Human Embryos With Bar Codes

In futuristic movies like "Aliens 2" and "12 Monkeys," prisoners are bar coded for easy identification. But today's reality is even wilder: Scientists have proposed bar-coding embryos.

Researchers from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain have just finished testing a method for imprinting microscopic bar codes on mouse embryos -- a procedure they plan to test soon on humans. The venture is meant to avoid mismatches during in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer procedures. But privacy experts and children's rights advocates were instantly concerned by the concept of "direct labeling" of embryos, calling for transparency in the process...

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Justice Department to Appeal Stem Cell Research Ruling

The Obama administration will appeal a judge's ruling that temporarily blocked federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said Tuesday that the department will "soon" be filing its appeal in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, where the ruling came down Monday...

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Frozen Embryos 'Not Life Forms': S. Korean Court

South Korea's Constitutional Court has ruled that human embryos left over from fertility treatment are not life forms and can be used for research or destroyed, a court spokesman said Friday.

In its ruling Thursday the court upheld an existing law allowing the use of leftover embryos for research. The law also allows fertility clinics to dispose of frozen embryos five years after fertilisation treatment is completed...

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