Last week in the UK Parliament, 175 members of the House of Commons voted against a bill, tabled by Evan Harris MP, supporting human embryonic stem cell research. Whilst these MPs do not constitute a majority of the full House of Commons (there are a total of 659 MPs), they...
British MPs have voted against the use of early human embryo cells for research into the development of new disease treatments. Introduced by Dr Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat science spokesman, the private member's bill was defeated last Tuesday by 175 votes to 83. Private member's bills, which rarely result...
A new study published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examines how cells in the early human embryo grow and develop into a range of different body tissues. The researchers say their work demonstrates the potential for using embryo stem cells to grow...
A patent application describing a procedure in which human DNA is transferred into pig egg cells has been turned down by the European Patent Office (EPO), who described it as 'contrary to morality'. Australian firm Stem Cell Sciences and US-based BioTransplant Inc created the hybrid cells during research into stem...
A UK bioethicist claims that a legal loophole could allow male couples to have their own genetic child, using cell nuclear transfer- the technique used to clone Dolly the sheep. Dr Calum MacKellar, a lecturer in bioethics and biochemistry at Edinburgh University, says that it is 'theoretically possible' to have...
A team of Italian researchers has shown that neural stem cells - cells that normally develop into a range of nerve cells - can grow into muscle cells. The team, based at the Institute for Stem Cell Research in Milan, published their findings in the latest issue of Nature Neuroscience. The scientists...
European MPs have passed a resolution condemning the UK government's recent recommendation to allow research into therapeutic cloning - the use of cloned early embryo cells to develop new disease treatments. The European Parliament narrowly approved a resolution calling for a ban on all forms of human cloning throughout Europe, by...
Bill Clinton has announced that American scientists will be able to conduct federally funded research into human embryonic stem cells. Clinton's announcement follows a review by his administration of guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health this week. Any work carried out on embryo stem cells will have to...
Last week's announcement that British MPs are to be offered a free vote on embryo stem cell research and therapeutic cloning was always going to provoke a strong public and media response. But the fact that the announcement was made during parliament's summer holiday and was not backed up by...
The long-awaited report by the UK's Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson on the ethical and scientific issues surrounding therapeutic cloning research was published last Wednesday. It calls for a change to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990, to allow scientists working on stem cell therapies to carry out...
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