MPs back hybrid embryo research
pharmafile | May 22, 2008 | News story | |Â Â Â
Research using 'hybrid' human/animal embryos has been given the green light by MPs.
Politicians, including the Labour and Conservative leaders, voted overwhelmingly to oppose a ban on hybrids as part of a series of debates on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
Patient groups welcomed the outcome, saying it could open the door for scientists to use such embryos as they investigate conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS).
Characterised by detractors as 'Frankenstein science', cells from specially-created hybrids embryos are used to discover more about how embryonic stem cells can become specific cells, which may then be used to treat various diseases.
Critics point out that stem cell research has not yet unearthed any cures, but the Parkinson's Disease Society's director of research and development Dr Kieran Breen it holds great potential to improve understanding of conditions like Parkinson's.
"By keeping all avenues of stem cell research open scientists will be able to pursue all promising lines of research, within the UK's strict regulatory framework, and make more rapid progress towards new treatments and hopefully a cure."
The MS Society also voiced its approval for the vote, calling it "a victory for common sense".
Director of policy and research Jayne Spink said: "The MS Society believes it is essential to keep all possible avenues of research open and supports the use of the best technology available to achieve its goals of finding effective treatments for people with MS.
"Allowing scientists to further explore this avenue of research may prove to be hugely beneficial not just to the 85,000 people with MS, but to the hundreds of thousands of people living with debilitating, degenerative and life limiting conditions."
The Commons vote on the issue is significant because allowing such experimentation may solve the current shortage of human eggs from which to generate embryos for stem cell research.
The first human/animal hybrids were created last month at Newcastle University, in research licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, using material from a cow's egg and DNA from human skin cells to create an embryo that was 99.9% human.
It remains the case that embryos created by mixing human and animal material must be destroyed within 14 days and cannot be implanted into a human or animal.
