Ministerial response to cloning recommendations delayed

The British government announced last Friday that more evidence is needed of the potential benefits to human health before the use of cloning techniques for the development of medical treatments is allowed in research. Tessa Jowell, Minister for Public Health, reaffirmed the government's position that the use of cloning techniques for reproductive purposes is 'ethically unacceptable' and will remain illegal in the UK.

The moratorium on research came as a surprise to many who had expected the government to accept last December's recommendations from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission (HGAC). Following public consultation, the HFEA and HGAC had ruled out reproductive cloning but had strongly recommended that embryo research using cloning techniques be allowed.

Recent breakthroughs have made the theoretical possibility of growing immunologically compatible tissue in the laboratory to treat degenerative diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's a potential reality. But the public distrust of genetic technologies as a whole - including genetically modified foods - appears to have persuaded the government that the time is not yet ripe. Instead, Ms Jowell and Science Minister Lord Sainsbury announced that a new independent advisory group is to be set up to assess the potential therapeutic benefits of allowing research using cloning techniques.

The expert group, which will be chaired by the Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson, will be set up shortly and is expected to report its findings to Ministers early next year. Although anti-abortion campaigners were jubilant at the news last week, research groups were concerned that British scientists would be left behind in research that may eventually benefit a huge constituency of people.