Last November, Advanced Cell Technology, a biotechnology company based in Worcester, Mass., wanted to let the world know that it had created a human embryo using a cow's egg. Their vehicle of choice? The front page of The New York Times. "We weren't trying to be sensational," CEO Michael West says of the news leak; the company was merely trying "to get a reading on the public's acceptance." But sensation was exactly what West generated-plus some unfavorable press coverage of a public relations strategy deemed less than wise.

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