Britain to Relax Human Cloning Law
L O N D O N, Aug. 16 -- The British government today said it would introduce legislation to amend a ban on human cloning to allow scientific research on embryo cells, raising the possibility Britain could be the first country to specifically authorize cloning from humans.
The move, which does not endorse creating cloned babies, came in response to a report published today by a government-commissioned panel led by the country’s chief medical officer.
“We’re talking about research at this stage, not treatment,” Dr. Liam Donaldson, the medical officer, cautioned. “There is major, major medical potential, but we need medical research to see whether this potential can be realized.”
While many countries are working on laws to ban human cloning, several others are considering the prospect of allowing its limited use for research into the treatment of disease. SUBHD: Ethical Concerns
Ethical concerns have tempered the pace in many countries.
Britain allows scientists to conduct research on embryos up to 14 days old for fertility, congenital and other disorders, but does not permit them to be used for the study of diseases acquired in adulthood.
The cloning of humans either to create babies or embryos for research was banned in 1990.
The report recommended the 14-day law remain and that legislation be introduced to ban hybrid animal-human embryos and to reaffirm the nation’s ban on creating cloned babies.
The reason for the proposed change is the potential of what are known as embryonic “stem cells,” the parent cells of the human body that go on to form most types of cells and issues.
An embryo is essentially a ball of stem cells that evolves into a fetus when the stem cells start specializing to create a nervous system, spine and other features—at about 14 days.
SUBHD: Stringent Safeguards
Scientists hope that by extracting the stem cells from the embryo before they start to specialize, their growth can be directed in a lab to become any desired cell or tissue type for transplant.
