In Britain, the authorities allowed the cloning of human embryos for medical research. The permit was given by the Governmental Authority for Fertility and Embryo Research in Great Britain, and it was given to researchers at the University of Newcastle
Avi Blizovsky
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 the UK since 2001, but to date not a single request for research has been submitted.
