In the UK, an unprecedented number of medical research charities join politicians and scientists calling for the use of enucleated animal eggs in human stem cell research. British politicians and more than two hundred medical research charities and patient groups united on April 5th to support British scientists in opposition to a government plan that could forbid the use of enucleated animal eggs to produce human stem cells for research.
The House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee published a report criticizing the proposed ban, which could be included in upcoming draft legislation in May. “Our report is really quite explicit that the research into cytoplasmic hybrid embryos should go ahead now … and that the proposed legislation that comes into the House in May should be permissive,” the Committee chair Phil Willis said.
A coalition of 223 research charities and patient groups, also added their voices to the debate, sending a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair saying that the research was needed to overcome a shortage of human eggs for medical research. The letter described the research as “a vital avenue of inquiry which could greatly increase our understanding of serious medical conditions and ultimately lead to new treatments.”
The government’s view on the issue first came to light in December when public health minister Caroline Flint released a “White Paper” policy document which recommended that the human-animal hybrids and chimeras be banned when the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act (HFEA) is updated in 2008. That document prompted a letter to the Times newspaper in January, signed by 45 scientists, academics and politicians.
Source: TheScientist
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