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 28 August 2008 06:39 BST

PM promises free vote on parts of controversial embryo bill

Tuesday, 25 Mar 2008 19:36
Labour MPs will have a free vote on controversial issues surrounding embryo research

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The prime minister has promised Labour MPs a free vote on parts of the controversial embryo bill.

Gordon Brown's announcement follows criticism from the Catholic Church that Labour MPs were not able to decide how to vote on the legislation.

MPs will be given a free vote on the use of so-called 'saviour siblings', IVF reform and hybrid embryos - which mix human DNA with animal eggs - when the bill first enters the Commons.

He explained these are new issues and it was right MPs be granted a free vote in this instance.

The Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh used his Easter Sunday address to warn about the ethical implications of creating hybrid embryos.

He said research on such embryos "attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life".

But Mr Brown said it was right the government steers the human fertilisation and embryology bill through on its second and third reading, expected before the end of the parliamentary term.

Some politicians and scientists have warned religious leaders not to inflame or distort the debate surrounding the use of hybrid embryos and other updates to fertility and embryology legislation.

The Conservative leader David Cameron, who challenged Gordon Brown to put the bill to a free vote, said it would be wrong for anyone to distort what the bill allows.

Among the bill's most controversial sections is legal clarification allowing hybrid embryos.

Under the terms of the bill, the resultant embryo could only be stored for a maximum of 14 days to produce stem cells for research and could not be implanted in either a human or animal uterus.

Scientists argue the use of animal eggs is necessary to compensate for a shortage of human donors and the resultant embryo would be 99 per cent human.

More than 200 leading medical and scientific charities have written to MPs urging them to support the legislation, which supporters argue could facilitate ground breaking scientific research, in the face of increasing religious opposition.

Labour MP Jim Devine, who is also a Catholic, said the Church was distorting the facts of the debate, however.

He argued the bill was not about "creating Frankenstein monsters" but looking at serious diseases and potential cures.

Mr Cameron added: "My own view, and I think [that of] many people in the Conservative party, is we need to update the legislation.

"This sort of research is important. We all want to see diseases reduced and problems that children have dealt with."

Dr Stephen Minger, director of the stem cell biology laboratory at King's College, London, said religious leaders use using "intentionally inflammatory" language.

"You could perceive that they're saying this out of real lack of understanding, or you could be more cynical and say they're doing it to ratchet up tension," he told the Guardian.

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of the genetics division at the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research, added: "Maybe there's an awful lot in the bill that goes against the strict Roman Catholic view and it's not just these mixtures of animal and human they object to.

"Perhaps they've decided that they're going to focus on this one particular issue because they can use scary language like 'creating monsters' and make ground on this particular battle, when [other parts of the bill], like IVF treatment, are well accepted in the UK."

Dr Minger and Professor Lovell-Badge will be among six scientists who have agreed to meet with MPs to discuss their concerns.
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