Second embryo stem cell debate announced

A second debate on the use of cloned early embryo cells for research into new disease treatments will take place on 15 December, the UK government announced last week. A cross-party group of anti-abortion MPs has objected to the timing of the debate - a Friday afternoon when many MPs are usually back in their constituencies.

Labour MP Ruth Kelly said the regulations to allow the research should be debated in prime parliamentary time. Margaret Beckett, leader of the House, replied that by the time the regulations came before parliament they would have been debated for ten hours in prime time. A free vote will be held on the proposed amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990, the date of which has yet to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, the French government is proposing to lift its ban on human embryo research, reports last week's Nature. The new bill will state that research on cloned embryonic stem cells should 'not be excluded a priori' as it may become necessary should other techniques fail, said research minister Gerard Schwartzenberg. The updating of France's 1994 bioethics legislation would permit research on 'spare' IVF embryos less than 6-7 days old, and in circumstances where no effective alternatives existed.

Lastly, Japanese officials recently approved a law that permits the creation of embryos produced using cell nuclear transfer (cloning), but forbids the implantation of any such embryos into a human or animal womb. 'There is a possibility of this technology having important medical research applications', an official of the Science and Technology Agency told the journal Science.