In an important breakthrough scientists in the United States have cloned monkey embryos to create embryonic stem cells.
The scientists at Oregon Health & Science University used skin cells from monkeys to create cloned embryos and then extracted embryonic stem cells from the embryos.
According to Shoukhrat Mitalipov and colleagues this has only been achieved before in mice and the success of the research demonstrates that in principle at least, it is possible to clone humans and get stem cells from the embryos.
Some details of the research first surfaced at a conference in Australia in June, and the work has since been independently verified by another team of experts.
Mitalipov says though the efficiency is still low they are confident the technique will work in humans.
Scientists study embryonic stem cells because they are the source of every cell, tissue and organ in the body and it helps them understand the biology of disease and the prompts the development of new drugs and therapies.
The theory is that a small piece of skin taken from a patient can be used to grow tissue and possibly organs which are perfectly matched to the patient.
Embryonic stem cell research is a controversial issue and opponents believe it has sinister implications.
In the U.S. President Bush has repeatedly blocked legislation that would expand federal funding of such research.
Though many species of animals have been cloned, and experts have managed to extract stem cells from a variety of embryos, including human embryos, it has remained very difficult to both clone and then get embryonic stem cells from any animal.
This latest success by Mitalipov's team has transcended the two barriers of cloning a primate and then extracting embryonic stem cells from the clone.
Primates are the group of mammals that includes monkeys, apes and of course humans.
Cloning involves removing the genetic material from an egg and replacing it with the DNA from an adult cell.
The technique, somatic cell nuclear transfer, involves taking the nucleus from an adult cell, in this case fibroblasts, (a type of skin cell) from nine adult males.
An egg cell is then hollowed out and the nucleus from the adult cell inserted; this in turn programs the egg into behaving as if it had been fertilized and encourages it to grow into a embryo.