Britain to Debate Human/Animal Embryo Research
LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Creating hybrid human/animal embryos to help develop new treatments for disease would not be illegal in Britain but should be put to a public debate, a regulatory body said on Thursday.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which oversees embryo research and fertility treatment, said the research could fall under its remit and would not be prohibited by law after a meeting of experts on Wednesday.
"After weighing up the scientific, legal and ethical issues presented to Wednesday's meeting, the authority decided that there needs to be a full and proper public debate and consultation as to whether, in principle, licences for these sorts of research could be granted," Angela McNab, the chief executive of the HFEA said in a statement.
Scientists from Kings College London and the North East England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) in Newcastle have submitted applications to create hybrid embryos to develop new treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's, stroke and Alzheimer's.
By using animal eggs the scientists could overcome the shortage of human eggs left over from IVF treatments for stem cell research.
"When the consultation has been completed in the autumn, we will then be in a position to consider individual applications," McNab said.
Professor Stephen Minger of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at Kings College, who submitted an application for the research, said earlier this week he had been told informally the applications were unlikely to be granted.
The HFEA announcement came a month after the government published a White Paper last month suggesting it could ban the creation of hybrid embryos, which would be 99.9 percent human and 0.1 percent animal.
The scientists want to use cow eggs and human DNA initially to create the hybrid embyro to generate stem cells which are capable of growing into an cell type.
The nucleus of the animal egg will be removed and fused with the nucleus from a human cell. It is the same technique used to create Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal.
The early embryo would be destroyed within 14 days.
In a letter to the Times newspaper on Wednesday 50 leading scientists, ethicists and politicians said the research is not prohibited under a 1990 act. There would also be clear potential benefits for human health from the research.
"All this can be done without having to rely on the use of human eggs which are in very short supply and are needed for the treatment of patients with infertility," they wrote.
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