Human-animal embryos approved
Stem cell research could help to treat some diseases
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Wednesday, 05, Sep 2007 08:21
Scientists have been given approval to mix animal eggs with human DNA for research by the government's fertility and embryo regulator.
Researchers want to create hybrid embryos for studies into debilitating diseases including Parkinson's. As with other stem cell research, embryos would be destroyed after two weeks.
Two applications have been made by research teams in the UK to create the embryos; they argue that the shortage of human eggs for research makes new alternatives necessary.
Earlier this year the government gave its backing to "inter-species entities" in the draft human tissue and embryos bill.
In its ruling this afternoon, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said that scientists will still have to make individual applications to be able to carry out the work.
The decision follows a four-month-long public consultation which included an opinion poll of 2,000 people.
HFEA chair Shirley Harrison said the consultation was "to understand why people feel worried or enthusiastic about this research in order to help us make a judgement about the best way to proceed".
Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society, welcomed today's decision, describing it as "good news".
"This is a sound decision based on the views gathered from both scientists and the wider public," he added.
"It is excellent that this valuable avenue of research can be explored in the UK. We can be hopeful that our understanding of diseases will be furthered as a result of today's decision."
The Parkinson's Disease Society said hybrid embryo research "offers exciting possibilities" that could lead to potential cures for diseases including Parkinson's.
Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the British Medical Association's medical ethics committee, added that the research could prove to be a "major breakthrough" in targeting certain diseases.
"We understand people's initial resistance to the idea of hybrid embryos, but there would be very strict controls on the way they are used," he said.
But the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics has expressed concerns with the research, saying it violates the respect of human procreation and is likely to have "limited scientific value".
"Even if there were no risk of creating a genuine human embryo, it is a form of reproductive perversion to use a human nucleus to substitute in this way for animal reproductive material," said the centre's director Dr Helen Watt.
"The unique dignity of the human species, for which life and reproduction have a special meaning, needs to be safeguarded."