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First Human-Animal Embryos
in U.K. Bring Opposition
Andrea Gerlin
Bloomberg
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The creation of the U.K.'s first part-human, part-animal
embryos may increase pressure on Parliament for tougher regulations
on stem cell research.
Lyle Armstrong and colleagues at Newcastle University made embryos
using human cells and a cow egg, the college said yesterday in
a statement on its Web site. Debate in the U.K. over the so-called
hybrid embryos increased after Catholic leaders, in Easter sermons,
attacked the technique used for making stem cells. Cardinal Keith
O'Brien of Edinburgh said creating such embryos were ``experiments
of Frankenstein proportion.''
Parliament is discussing changes to a 1990 law that governs stem
cell research, including the hybrid work. U.K. scientists, who
can conduct research U.S. President George W. Bush restricted
in 2001, are concerned that they'll fall behind other countries
if legislation before Parliament is defeated. Chinese and U.S.
academics already have produced stem cells extracted from part-
human, part-animal embryos.
(Article continues below)
The new hybrids ``will open the door to a better understanding
of disease processes without having to use precious human eggs,''
John Burn, head of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle
University, said in the statement. ``Cells grown using animal
eggs cannot be used to treat patients on safety grounds but they
will help bring nearer the day when new stem cell therapies are
available.''
Armstrong presented preliminary data last month at a lecture
in Israel, and is working to verify the data, the university said
yesterday.
Lobbying, Debates
In response to the criticism from religious leaders, medical
organizations are organizing supporters to lobby legislators.
O'Brien has agreed to a Catholic lawmaker's request that he meet
researchers who want to use hybrid embryos. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor,
the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, wants a national
bioethics panel established.
Two days after O'Brien's Easter sermon, Prime Minister Gordon
Brown agreed to allow lawmakers in his Labour party and Cabinet
ministers to vote based on their consciences as opposed to their
party's position when they're polled in May or June. Three of
Brown's Cabinet ministers are Catholic and may have resigned rather
than support the bill.
Among the proposed changes to the 1990 Human Fertilization and
Embryology Act is a provision allowing researchers to generate
stem cells from hybrid embryos.
Full
article here.
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