http://http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299857,00.html
Well this link is the story if you haven't read it already.
This part of the story that gets me...The man-made chromosome will be transplanted into an existing bacterial cell and is expected to take control of the cell. When the synthetic DNA takes over, the cell will be a new species.
Look if they created their own bacterial cell and put the DNA in then i think it is eligible to be its own lifeform......otherwise it is just theory working and working well.