Australian parliament votes yes to ES cell research, not cloning

The Australian House of Representatives has voted to pass a bill - the Research Involving Embryos Bill - that allows stem cell research to take place on embryos 'left over' from IVF procedures but would also ban human cloning.

The vote follows months of intense campaigning from Australian scientists and patient groups. The politicians were given a free 'conscience vote' on the bill, and voted three to one in favour. Before it can become law, the Australian Upper House, which has already set up a committee of inquiry into the bill, also needs to debate and pass it. It is expected that this vote would be much closer, but even if the bill were not passed by the Senate, politicians in each of the six states of Australia have pledged to pass laws to enable stem cell research to continue.

Meanwhile, in the US, the White House has criticised legislation passed last week by the California state governor, that allows research to take place on stem cells from any source. Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, said that President Bush had established federal policy consistent with respect for 'the culture of life' and that in holding this opinion, he obviously differed from the Californian governor, Gray Davis.

The passage of the California law has also angered US pro-life groups, who have again called on Congress to ban the use of human cloning techniques for both therapeutic research and reproduction. But supporters of the new law hope that it will encourage other US states to pass similar legislation, preventing a 'brain drain' of scientists from the US and encouraging President Bush to relax federal policy on stem cell research.

Last week, governor Davis signed another bill that would permanently extend a ban on reproductive cloning in California. An original ban would have expired on 1 January 2003.