In Britain, the authorities allowed the cloning of human embryos for medical research
In Britain, the authorities allowed the cloning of human embryos for medical research. The permit was given by the Government Authority for Fertility and Embryo Research in Great Britain, and it was given to researchers at the University of Newcastle.
The researchers announced that they will clone the human embryos to produce stem cells for testing the possibility of treating diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The British researchers announced that they would destroy the cloned embryos when they were two weeks old, and noted that they did not have permission to allow the development of the embryos beyond a collection of cells the size of a pinhead.
The research will be conducted at the International Center for Life in Newcastle, and will be attended by experts from the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Newcastle and the Fertility Center in Newcastle.
The scientists there say that this is the first time that such research has been approved and even funded in Europe and certainly in the UK.
They warn that it will take at least five years, if not much longer, before patients can receive stem cell treatments based on their research.
Conservative bodies, including the ProLife Party, have announced that they will file an appeal in court against the decision of the Governmental Authority for Fertility and Embryo Research in Great Britain to allow the research to move forward.
Cloning for medical purposes has been legal in Barintia since 2001, but to date no request for research has been submitted.
Britain is expected to allow embryo cloning for research
16.6.2004
The day after tomorrow, it is expected that approval will be received for the request of British scientists to carry out the first procedure of its kind in the UK to clone 12 embryos - this is what the British "Observer" newspaper reported yesterday. The purpose of cloning is to try to extract embryonic stem cells from the embryos for research purposes. The researchers do not intend to return the cloned embryos to a human womb to grow them. About three months ago it was published in "Haaretz" that the "Helsinki Committee for Genetic Experiments on Humans" appointed by the Ministry of Health and responsible for approving innovative experiments in genetics in Israel, approved in principle the implementation of a similar procedure in Israel. The Ministry of Health emphasizes that a request has not yet been submitted to conduct a specific study as it is currently happening in the UK, so this is not on the agenda.
The British research is led by Dr. Miodrag Stojkovic from the University of Newcastle in northern Britain, who stated that the embryonic stem cells that will be taken from the cloned embryos will be used in research to find a treatment for diabetes. According to him, the research in the field may lead to progress in the study of other diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
The researchers will use the "nuclear transfer" technique, which was used when cloning the sheep "Dolly" in 97. Their request will be discussed before five members of the British Human Fertility Authority. The "Observer" published that consent in principle to the procedure had already been given by the authority, which began working on drafting a joint statement with the university.
The researchers emphasize that unlike the "Dolly" case, they do not intend to inject the fused and cloned cell back into the uterus, but to wait six days. So, at the stage known as "blastocyst", the embryo has several hundred cells and the embryonic stem cells can be extracted from it. These cells are capable of becoming any of the body's tissues and scientists believe that with their help they will be able to develop a new generation of drugs and medical treatments based on the addition of new tissues instead of damaged tissues.
In February, scientists from South Korea proved that it is possible to clone embryos and produce stem cells from them. Even then, the scientists made it clear that the purpose of the cloning was medical research and not reproduction. Two weeks later, the person who headed the team of researchers, Dr. Huang Woo-suk, said that he and his colleagues would temporarily stop the cloning experiments with human eggs. "We will resume the experiments after opinions from the world and the position of the Korean people and government."
The British government will invest 16.5 million pounds in stem cell research and establish a bank for embryonic stem cells
30/5/04
The British government is about to inject £16.5 million into stem cell research designed to find new ways to cure diseases.
So far 57 research grants have been awarded to universities across the UK to find new treatments for conditions such as Parkinson's disease and various types of cancer.
The critics oppose taking stem cells from embryos and claim that they can also be obtained from tissues of adult people.
One such project, carried out by the National Institute for Medical Research in London, incorporates stem cells from the lining of the nose to repair damage to the spine.
The research, led by Dr. Jeffrey Raisman, has so far revealed that stem cells from the nasal cavity have the ability to regenerate during life. The researchers believe that this ability can be exploited and implanted in damaged areas of the spine to accelerate tissue regeneration.
And in the same matter: the world's first embryonic stem cell bank was opened in May 2004 at the NIBSC Institute in Hertfordshire in Great Britain, following a donation of 40 million pounds. The researchers at the bank will store, characterize and clone stem cells, so that in the future they can provide them to researchers. The study of embryonic stem cells is causing a stir around the world. These are cells that have the potential to become any of the body's tissues. The researchers believe that with the help of the research they will discover how to "direct" the cells to become a certain tissue (for example, heart muscle tissue), and this will help in the future of transplants. On the other hand, the opponents, including abortion prevention bodies, claim that when the embryonic stem cells are produced, the fetus from which the cells were taken is destroyed and therefore it is an immoral action.
"If we can exploit the potential of these wonderful cells, we may be standing at the door of one of the greatest scientific contributions to human health." said Prof Colin Blackmore of the Research Councils UK.
