Scientist: Hybrid embryos produced quickly

NEWCASTLE, England, June 20 (UPI) -- British scientists say they have produced nearly 300 hybrid embryos since they began inserting human DNA into cow eggs in January.

Project leader Lyle Armstrong told the BIO biotechnology conference in San Diego the scientists found producing embryos for stem cell research in their controversial project was easier than expected, the Financial Times reported Friday.

Armstrong told the Financial Times about 270 embryos have been produced at Newcastle University through a process designed to counter the shortage of fresh human eggs for research.

"We might be able to get eight to 10 human (eggs) of sufficient quality per month," Armstrong said. "We can get 200 cow eggs a day from the local meat industry."

The Newcastle project is part of an international effort to find ways of producing stem cells that can replace failing human tissues and treat a range of currently incurable diseases.

"The embryos are mostly self-regulating, because they arrest naturally at 32 cells, which is quite good from the ethical point of view," Armstrong said. "There is no way these embryos could develop into a fetus."