UK gives go-ahead for human embryo cloning
British scientists have been granted permission to clone human embryos for medical research, it was announced today.
The controversial move means researchers at the University of Newcastle will be the first in Britain to carry out therapeutic human cloning.
They plan to duplicate early-stage embryos and extract stem cells from them which can be used for radical new treatments.
The embryos are destroyed before they are 14-days old and never allowed to develop beyond a cluster of cells the size of a pinhead.
The green-light was given by the research licensing body the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority after weeks of discussion.
Dr Miodrag Stojkovic, from the university’s Institute of Human Genetics, said: “We are all set up and ready to go immediately as soon as the paper work is sorted out.
“It has taken a year of work, and I am most pleased that the HFEA has recognised the potential of this technology in modern medicine.”
Cloning to create copies of human babies is outlawed in Britain but therapeutic cloning has been legal since 2002.
In May the Stem Cell Group at the International Centre for Life in Newcastle applied for a licence to permit human cloning as part of its research programme.
