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PETBioNewsCommentSlippery slope or uphill struggle?

BioNews

Slippery slope or uphill struggle?

Published 18 June 2009 posted in Comment and appears in BioNews 271

Author

Dr Jess Buxton

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).

Last week, scientists in Newcastle received the first UK licence granting permission to isolate stem cells from cloned early human embryos. Team leaders Alison Murdoch and Miodrag Stojkovic hope that the work will eventually lead to new treatments for diabetes, and a range of other diseases caused by the loss...

Last week, scientists in Newcastle received the first UK licence granting  permission to isolate stem cells from cloned early human embryos. Team leaders Alison Murdoch and Miodrag Stojkovic hope that the work will eventually lead to new treatments for diabetes, and a range of other diseases caused by the loss of a specific type of cell. This exciting news triggered a media frenzy, with most reports focussing on the potential medical benefits of the research.

Inevitably, however, pressure groups against any research on human embryos raised concerns that the development would lead straight to cloned human babies. But given the scientific and legal background to last week's announcement, the Newcastle group may well feel that they face an uphill struggle with their work, rather than any slippery slopes. Their project is a technically-demanding one, and could face further regulatory challenges.


The one-year licence will allow the researchers to try and derive stem cells from cloned human embryos, using eggs left over from IVF treatment. The work is permitted for basic research purposes only, and will not directly lead to any new treatments. But even getting this far represents a landmark for UK stem cell scientists, who have waited since 1998 to begin work in this promising area of research. It was then that 'therapeutic cloning' was first considered as a potential way of treating many diseases.


The idea followed the successful development of cloning technology by UK scientists to produce Dolly the sheep, unveiled in 1997. This was followed by the isolation of stem cells from human embryos, by a US team a year later. By combining these technologies, scientists proposed, it might be possible to produce any type of body cell, genetically identical to the patient requiring treatment. In reality, it took a further six years before a team of Korean scientists managed to produce the world's first cloned human embryo stem cells: an achievement that the Newcastle team now hopes to match.


The regulatory hurdles facing the researchers must, at times, have seemed as challenging as the scientific ones. Before research on human embryo stem cells could begin in the UK, an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990 was required. After much parliamentary debate, the legislation was passed in December 2000, only to face a successful legal challenge by an alliance of pro-life groups. This ruling was overturned in January 2002, and a House of Lords select committee eventually gave the green light to embryo stem cell research two months later.


Last week, pro-life campaigners in the UK were again considering legal action aimed at stalling work in this crucial area of research. There are also ongoing efforts to ban research on cloned human embryos at the European and international levels. Parents of children with diabetes, and people affected by conditions such as motor neurone and Parkinson's disease must hope that these efforts are unsuccessful, leaving committed scientists to continue their pioneering work towards new medical treatments.

Related Articles

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Clone embryos to avoid disease, says Dolly scientist

by Dr Jess Buxton

The UK scientist who lead the team responsible for creating Dolly the sheep has suggested using cloning technology to eradicate disease genes in early human embryos. In a new book, currently being serialised in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Professor Ian Wilmut says that it would be...

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
News
9 June 2009 • 1 minute read

Newcastle stem cell professor to leave UK

by BioNews

Stem cell researcher Professor Miodrag Stojkovic, head of the pioneering Newcastle team that was granted the first UK licence to clone human embryos, has announced that he is leaving the UK for a better funded position in Spain. Professor Stojkovic's team worked closely with Professor Alison Murdoch, head of the...

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Second cloning licence issued in UK

by BioNews

The scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep has been given permission to use the same technique to clone human embryos for medical research into stem cells. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has granted a licence to the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh to use the cell nucleus replacement (CNR...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Legal challenge to first UK cloning licence

by BioNews

Opponents of research cloning have served an application for a judicial review on the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), over its decision to issue the first licence granting permission to create cloned human embryos. The HFEA issued the licence in August 2004, to Newcastle University researchers working on...

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