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Human oocytes made in the laboratory this way could bring the idea of therapeutic cloning nearer to reality. This is the concept that physicians could generate new body tissues for a patient by taking a cell from the patient’s skin, inserting the cell’s nucleus into an oocyte whose own nucleus had been removed, and letting the oocyte develop into an early embryo. Stem cells could be taken from the embryo and induced to develop into heart muscle cells genetically identical to the patient’s own.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/02/science/02STEM.html
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For centuries, scientists have investigated how eggs and sperm (gametes) develop in mammals. Most of this work has been in non-human animals, particularly the mouse. The capacity to grow human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) in vitro will facilitate research on human egg and sperm development. As a result, the day is now foreseen when it will be possible to derive eggs and sperm from PSCs in the laboratory. This line of research raises social and ethical issues that may be viewed differently in different cultures. The goal of this document is to inform public discussion about the state of the science and its potential social implications and to make recommendations about policy and practice.