UK House of Lords approves therapeutic cloning for medical research
The cloning of early embryos to provide stem cells for medical research has been approved by an influential committee of the UK House of Lords. Although the UK Parliament voted last year to allow research on embryonic stem cells, the House of Lords felt the issue required further consideration and set up a select committee to examine it in more detail. In a report published on 27 February, the select committee on stem cell research approved both research on embryonic stem cells and the use of therapeutic cloning through the cell nuclear transfer technique to provide embryonic material for medical research. It also backed a proposal from the UK department of health for the creation of a stem cell bank to store all adult and embryonic stem cell lines generated in the UK. The ruling clears the way for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to issue licences for therapeutic cloning. Although some pro-life campaigners argue that adult stem cells are just as effective as embryonic stem cells for the development of genetic therapies to treat diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's, the committee report states: 'There is a clear scientific case for continued research on embryonic stem (ES) cells, in order that the full potential of adult stem cells for therapy can be realised and because it is likely that some therapies will need to use ES cells.' The report stresses that neither adult nor embryonic stem cell research alone 'is likely to meet all therapeutic needs,' and that research should continue into both to 'ensure maximum medical benefit.' The committee also calls on the government to carry out a further review of scientific progress in the field at the end of the decade. In a separate development, genetics and bioethics experts from around the world met in New York on 27 February to help a United Nations committee to draw up an international treaty outlawing reproductive human cloning. The committee was established in November 2001 at the request of France and Germany, following the announcement from Italian doctor Severino Antinori that he intended to clone a human being. The committee's negotiations, in which all 189 UN member nations are entitled to participate, will continue during a further session in September this year.