U.K. allows animal-human embryo research
January 23, 2008

A government watchdog agency in the United Kingdom has given two research teams the green light to begin creating embryos that are part-human and part-animal for research purposes, the Daily Telegraph reported.

“The licence committee determined that the two applications satisfied all the requirements of the law and has now offered one-year research licences, subject to a series of detailed conditions in each case,” said a spokesman for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

The hybrid stem cells – made from cow, sheep or goat eggs whose nuclei have been replaced with the human genetic code – would be harvested for their stem cells.

“The HFEA’s decision is excellent,” researcher Robin Lovell-Badge told the Telegraph, “as it adds to the arsenal of techniques UK scientists can use to provide understanding and eventually develop therapies for a wide range of devastating genetic diseases” such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, cystic fibrosis and motor neurone disease.

“It is important to stress,” researcher Lyle Armstrong told The Times, “that we will only use [cow eggs] as a scientific tool and we need not worry about cells derived from them ever being used to treat human diseases.”

However, pro-lifers condemn the research as unnecessary and unethical. “Scientists are playing the sorcerer’s apprentice in all this,” said Calum MacKellar with the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics.

“We have a lot of sympathy with patients who are desperate to see treatment for these kinds of disorders,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “However, the action of saving life does not trump the action of killing life.”

http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/life/stories/2008/080123_03.html