Therapeutic cloning research to go ahead in UK?

Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson will recommend that the UK government lifts its ban on therapeutic cloning, a tabloid newspaper claimed last week. According to the News of the World, the long-awaited report on the possible use of cloned embryo cells to grow new body tissues will say that 'the massive medical advances possible after a change in the law far outweigh any moral objections'.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn and Home Secretary Jack Straw are apparently set to draw up changes in the law to give therapeutic cloning research the go-ahead, whilst enforcing a strict ban on human reproductive cloning. The report urges the government to make a bold step and turn British scientists into world leaders in the field, according to the newspaper.

The story provoked a swift reaction from Jack Scarisbrick, chairman of the anti-abortion group Life, who called therapeutic cloning a 'lamentable step'. 'This is runaway science of exactly the sort Prince Charles is talking about' he said.  

A spokesman for the Department of Health said the report had not been published yet, and he was not prepared to speculate on its results. 'We do not know the date of its release yet but the results will be revealed in due course' he added.