The Japanese government came under growing pressure to clarify its guidelines on human cloning after it was reported last week that researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology had carried out controversial cloning experiments last November. News of the research was reported in the Yomiuri Shimbun on 8 November. The newspaper said the project may have breached ethical guidelines on human cloning established last year by the Ministry of Education. The guidelines prohibit any research that makes use of human cloning technology. The research was carried out by a team of leukaemia researchers led by Setsuo Iwasaki. Repeating the work carried out by the US Company Advanced Cell Technology, Iwasaki removed the nuclei from 27 cows' eggs which he then fused with the nuclei of cancerous human white blood cells. Iwasaki told the Yomiuri Shimbun that he had not cleared the experiments with the university - believing the guidelines did not apply as there was no intention to produce cloned babies and the researchers were not using human eggs. He told the newspaper that his aim was to isolate embryonic stem cells which would have meant only culturing the embryo for about five days. The Education Ministry said the research fell into a grey area but should not have been carried out without government approval. The government's Council for Science and Technology is already thinking about drafting a bill to regulate human cloning. The Education Ministry announced it was considering tightening up its guidelines to prevent further misunderstandings.
Sources and References
-
Experiment sparks cloning debate in Japan
-
Japanese cloning pioneers break the rules
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.