UK politicians had their first opportunity to discuss the use of embryo stem cells to develop new disease therapies, in a House of Commons debate held last Friday. Such research will require an amendment to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, the subject of a free vote to be held later this year.
Health Minister Yvette Cooper argued that while some MPs would feel they needed to vote against the proposed new legislation as a matter of conscience, 'the moral arguments cut both ways'. She said: 'There is also an ethical argument in favour of the regulations and their potential to relieve the suffering to many families in this country'.
Meanwhile, earlier in the week, the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) published a report advising the European Commission that allowing the creation of human embryos for use in stem cell research was 'premature'. The report concludes that 'there is a wide field of research to be carried out with alternative sources of human stem cells: from spare embryos, fetal tissues and adult stem cells'.
Noelle Lenoir, chair of The EGE, said that the 12-member panel's decision represented a 'pragmatic approach', reflecting the need to find a consensus basis on which European research could be funded. She stressed that the group 'is not trying to interfere in any way with national legislation'. An editorial in Nature agrees that human embryo research is a matter for national, rather than European legislation, and argues that Europe's diversity of views on the subject are having the beneficial effect of forcing the continent to debate the scientific and ethical issues involved.
Sources and References
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European panel rejects creation of human embryos for research
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Embryology
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Minister stands up for embryo research
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Commons tussles with morality of embryo research
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