The British government yesterday upheld a ban on scientists cloning human embryos for medical research but is to establish an independent advisory group that will report to ministers on the issue early next year.
The decision imposes a moratorium on scientists wishing to carry out the research and was welcomed by Baroness O'Neill, chair of the Human Genetics Advisory Commission (HGAC), who had advised the government there were "no circumstances in which the reproductive cloning of human beings would be acceptable".
The government's conclusion that more time was needed to consider the issue was also accepted by the chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), Mrs Ruth Deech, whose organisation submitted a joint report with the HGAC on cloning to ministers in December.
Mrs Deech said the HGAC had recommended that the potential benefits of cell nucleus replacement technology in embryo research should not be ruled out, but she congratulated ministers on their decision to call for further research in the field of embryo technology.
But Dr Patrick Dixon, author of The Genetics Revolution, suggested the government was "on the run" over the issue following a collapse in public confidence over genetically modified food. "The biggest nightmare for Tony Blair would be a maverick scientist going public with a cloned baby in two years' time, and announcing that he'd learned the technique from a British research group," he said.
Another scientist, Professor Lord Winston, a fertility expert, angrily condemned the government's decision, describing it as "pathetic" and "immoral". Lord Winston said the government had missed the chance to allow ethical, limited forms of cloning in order to save lives.
In the Commons, the Public Health Minister, Ms Tessa Jowell, reaffirmed the government's policy that human reproductive cloning was "ethically unacceptable and cannot take place in this country". However, the government recognised that regulations to allow "therapeutic research" had to be carefully considered to assess the potential benefits and risks involved.
The government had been expected to accept the recommendation of leading scientists that the law should be relaxed to allow cloning of human embryos under 14 days old for the purposes of therapeutic research, but yesterday's decision means that scientists will be barred from carrying out such research at least until next year.
Only last week it was reported that a US research company had successfully cloned a human embryo after isolating the DNA of a human cell that came from a man's leg. Using a method similar to that employed by the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh which cloned Dolly the sheep, the nucleus was then transferred to the nucleus of a cow's egg whose DNA had been removed. The egg successfully divided but was destroyed before the 14-day limit imposed under research laws. Scientists had hoped to remove stem cells - "precursor" cells that can develop into many different types of cells and tissues - to assess their compatibility for therapeutic cloning techniques.