UK Government Proposals Approve Human/Animal Embryo Hybrids
Pastor Dale Morgan
UK Government Proposals Approve Human/Animal Embryo Hybrids*
Screening embryos for genetic conditions allowed; sex selection not
permitted
By Gudrun Schultz
LONDON, United Kingdom, December 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - British
researchers would be permitted to create human/animal embryo hybrids
using test tube technology, under sweeping new proposals to be
introduced by government health officials this week, the Sunday
Telegraph reported yesterday.
Known as "chimeras", the embryos would be produced by combining human
and animal genetic material within a laboratory setting--the North East
England Stem Cell Institute has already requested permission to create
an embryo that is part human and part cow.
"The overarching aim is to pursue the common good through a system
broadly acceptable to society," British Health Minister Caroline Flint
said in a report on the policy changes obtained by the Sunday Telegraph.
Other changes include removing the current requirement that a child's
need for a father must be considered when a woman seeks fertility
treatment. Single women and lesbian couples would have the same access
to fertility treatments as heterosexual couples.
Screening embryos for genetic conditions which have the potential to
lead to "serious medical conditions, disabilities or miscarriage" would
be allowed, as would screening embryos in order to select a child that
would be a tissue match for a sibling suffering from a "life-threatening
illness."
However, screening for sex selection would not be permitted under any
circumstances.
The new proposals would also forbid the creation of a human embryo by
using the genetic material from two women, bypassing the need for a male.
The new measures are intended to upgrade the 1990 Human Fertilization
and Embryology Act, paralleling advances in science and ensuring the law
is "fit for purpose in the early 21st century.
Under the new proposals, the Human Fertilization and Embryology
Authority and the Human Tissue Authority would be replaced with a
Regulatory Authority for Tissue and Embryos.
Additional changes would regulate the passage of information between
sperm donors and potential children. Sperm donors would be granted
"access [to] limited, non-identifying information about children
conceived as a result of their donations."
As well, "in some circumstances" donors would have the right to be
informed when their identifying details were provided to their children
once they reached age 18. Also at age 18, the children would be able to
find out if they have siblings from the same donor.
The coming proposals have been anticipated for some time, after urging
by prominent leaders in the UK scientific community. A report introduced
by members of the British Parliament's Science and Technology Select
Committee in 2005 recommended relaxing current research restrictions to
permit experimentation on human/animal hybrids, along with other
proposals to permit screening of embryos for identifying genetic
malformations and sex selection purposes.
The policy changes are expected to be released on Friday. Legislation
would follow next year.
Read Telegraph coverage:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&am...
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
National Geographic Reports Human/Animal Hybrid Creatures being Created
in Labs Around the World
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jan/05012712.html
UK Cloning Doctor Wants to Create Human/Rabbit Hybrid Clones
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06011306.html
UK Parliamentary Report Recommends Animal-Human Hybrids, Sex Selection
and More
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/mar/05032406.html