Scientists allowed to experiment on hybrid embryos*

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 6:24pm BST 17/05/2007

Research into potentially life-saving medical treatments using
part-human, part-animal embryos is to be allowed after a rethink by
ministers.

How to make a human cybrid

Two teams of British researchers are seeking permission to create
"cybrid" embryos that would be around 99.9 per cent human and 0.1 per
cent animal to produce embryonic stem cells - the body’s building blocks
that grow into all other types of cells.

They want to use the stem cells to understand and provide new treatments
for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cystic fibrosis, motor
neurone disease and Huntington’s.

Scientists, MPs and patient groups reacted angrily to the release in
December of a White Paper that proposed a ban on creating part-human,
part animal hybrids with a provision to allow it under certain
circumstances under licence.

Today the Government published its draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill –
a major overhaul of the laws covering embryo research and fertility
treatment.
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While similar work has been carried out in China and the US where
science is less regulated, the new laws will be among the first in the
world to set out in legislation what forms of research are permissible
in this field.

The Bill will allow cytoplasmic embryos, or cybrids, made using eggs
from rabbits or cows that have had their nucleus replaced with genetic
code from human cells. Human-animal chimeras - human embryos that have
been altered through the introduction of animal cells – will also be
permitted.

So-called "true" human-animal hybrids, created by fertilising a human
egg with animal sperm or vice versa, will remain banned. In all cases
these would only be allowed for research and it would be illegal to
allow such embryos to grow for more than 14 days or be implanted into a
womb.

Caroline Flint, health minister, denied the draft bill represented a
U-turn, saying that while the White Paper started from a "general
prohibition" it had always left the door open for specific research on a
case-by-case basis.

"We have had some useful discussion. I’m very pleased that sections of
the scientific community have stepped up to be clearer about how they
intend to use opportunities for research in these areas.

"We are minded to accept the principle that legislation should allow for
the creation of inter-species embryos for research purposes, subject to
the exceptions laid out in the Bill.

"I don’t see this as a back flip... it was an evaluation of a number of
different view points. I suppose it’s a difference between saying 'no
but’ instead of 'yes, but’."

Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, head of the division of developmental genetics
at the National Institute for Medical Research, said: "I am very pleased
that the draft Bill proposes that research involving mixtures of animal
and human material, whether cytoplasmic hybrids or chimeras, ought not
to be subject to a ban.

"It is reassuring that the advice of the scientific community and of the
House of Commons Science and Technology Committee seems to have been
taken on board during the drafting of the legislation, which some of us
had feared was being swayed more by those opposed to scientific progress
than by common sense and real understanding of the issues."

But Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said: "By
caving into pressure from the biotechnology industry the Government has
failed to recognise the limitations of science and has patronisingly
dismissed major moral and ethical concerns

"Creating such hybrids is unnecessary and unethical. It would diminish
human dignity, blur moral boundaries, and cross the fundamental line
that has always separated humans from animals. The possible ends do not
justify the means."

Other key measures set out in the draft Bill are the same as in the
White Paper, including a ban on sex selection for non-medical reasons
and the removal of "the need for a father" from guidelines for taking
account of a child’s welfare when providing IVF and other fertility
treatment.

The Bill will now go before a House of Commons scrutiny committee and is
due to be included in the Queen’s speech in November.