Government proposes human-animal egg research
Thursday, 17 May 2007 12:15
Stem cell research from hybrid embryos could help target some diseases
Science In Focus
Click here to see how British small businesses are creating innovative, low carbon business ideas, on inthenews.co.uk. Full Story
Scientists should be allowed to create hybrid embryos combining animal eggs with human cells for research, the government said today.
Known as hybrid embryos, researchers hope to use them to create stem cell lines for use in studies about degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Two applications by British teams have been made to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to carry out the work. It is currently carrying out a public debate into whether this research should be allowed.
Cow and rabbit eggs are said to be vital as human eggs are in short supply and animal cells are thought to hold the potential to reveal more than is previously known about how cells behave.
A report from the science and technology committee said last month that banning hybrid embryo research would be "potentially harmful to UK science".
The draft human tissue and embryos bill published this morning states: "Having regard to the scientific evidence produced during the committee's inquiry, and that the recommendations are the consensus view of a parliamentary committee, we intend to accept the principle that legislation should provide for… [some] inter-species entities."
These entities include hybrid embryos, human transgenic embryos (a human embryo that has been altered by the introduction of any sequence of nuclear or mitochondrial DNA of an animal) and human-animal chimeras (a human embryo that has been altered by the introduction of one or more animal cells).
Commenting on the government's proposals, public health minister Caroline Flint said they are necessary "in order to maintain the UK's leading position and ensure that the legislation is fit for the future".
But she added that the issues involved with the new research are "contentious and complex" and welcomed the scrutiny a parliamentary committee will provide of the proposals.
The decision has been greeted with dismay from groups opposed to the research on moral and ethical grounds.
A spokeswoman for Comment on Reproductive Ethics (Core) said that it was "very disappointed" that the government appeared to be backtracking on the issue.
"We'd like to see it banned altogether," she added. "Mixing of any animal and human cells promotes the yuck factor."