Britain rejects human-animal embryo ban
LONDON - BRITISH lawmakers have voted against a ban on scientists creating human-animal hybrid embryos in their battle to defeat diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Wed, May 21, 2008
The Straits Times
An amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill would have outlawed the creation of two types of hybrid embryos for use in medical research.
But a bid to ban cytoplasmic hybrids, or 'cybrids' - in which human DNA is injected into a hollowed-out animal egg to create an embryo which is 99.9per cent human - was defeated in a free vote by 336 to 176 in the House of Commons on Monday.
A second amendment, which would have banned creation of 'true hybrids' by fertilising an animal egg with human sperm, or vice-versa, was also defeated, by a majority of 63.
Researchers are currently focusing mainly on cybrids, which would allow them to grow stem cells from the DNA of patients with degenerative diseases, which they could then study in the laboratory.
Although cybrids are condemned by Cardinal Keith O'Brien, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, as 'experiments of Frankenstein proportion', hundreds of British scientists and medical organisations say they are necessary because of a shortage of human eggs and embryos for research.
But Conservative MP Edward Leigh, one of those who sought the ban, argued that mingling animal and human DNA crossed an 'ultimate boundary', and that exaggerated claims for the techniques were giving patients false hope.
He also warned that the risks of the techniques being allowed were unknown.
'We are like children playing with landmines without any concept of the dangers,' he said.
The Bill prohibits the transfer of the embryos to a human or animal and says they cannot be used for research beyond 14 days.
Three Catholic members of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Cabinet - Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, Defence Secretary Des Browne and Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy - were among those who voted for the ban.
But the overall vote result preserved what Mr Brown regarded as a central element of the legislation, said the Times of London.
In an article published in the Observer newspaper on Sunday, Mr Brown made an impassioned argument for human-animal hybrid embryos for disease research.
'I believe that we owe it to ourselves and future generations to introduce these measures,' he wrote.
Also on Monday, lawmakers voted 342 to 163 in favour of government plans to allow 'saviour siblings'.
This authorises the screening of embryos for disease-free genetic characteristics in cases in which a parent is seeking a child who can act as a tissue donor for an older sibling.
Meanwhile yesterday, the House of Commons was to consider what would be the first changes to British abortion laws since 1990 - whether to keep the current 24-week limit or lower it to 22, 20 or 16 weeks.
A final vote on the package is expected in the coming weeks.
WASHINGTON POST, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
Fact sheet: Cybrids
HE main kinds of human-animal embryo permitted are cytoplasmic hybrids (cybrids) for research purposes.How are cybrids created?
Cybrids are made by moving a human nucleus into an empty animal egg.
Why are they required?
Scientists are hampered by a lack of human eggs available for research.
How can cybrids help in research?
Cybrids can carry the DNA of patients with genetic conditions such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's and yield essentially human stem cells, providing a 'disease-in-a-dish' for study, according to Mr Stephen Minger of King's College London.
Are scientists already using cybrids?
Teams at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and King's College London hold licences to create cybrids. The vote against the ban will allow them to continue their experiments.
A third team plans to use cybrids to study motor neuron disease.