Legislation that would allow medical research on early human embryos, and effectively permit limited human cloning, could be blocked by the upper house of the UK parliament.
In December, the elected lower house voted overwhelmingly in favour of extending the scope of embryo research to include work on stem cells (快猫短视频 online news, 20 December).
Now, members of the House of Lords are due to vote on these legal changes. But many say they feel the controversial proposals are being rushed through.
Advertisement
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishops of Glasgow and Westminster, the Chief Rabbi and President of the Muslim College have all backed calls for a select committee of peers to examine the proposed changes in more detail, before they are put to the vote.
However, a select committee inquiry could put potentially life-saving research on hold for up to two years, says Labour MP Anne Begg.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 see what more there is to talk about,鈥� said Martin Bobrow, professor of medical genetics at Cambridge University, talking to The Times newspaper. 鈥淚n the meantime, research is going to be held up, and there is a real danger of research going abroad.鈥�
快猫短视频s hope that stem cells taken from human embryos could one day be used to treat a wide range of illnesses, including Parkinson鈥檚 disease. In theory, stem cells could be coaxed to grow into replacement tissue, or even organs. By using stem cells from a cloned embryo of the patient, rejection problems should be avoided.
More at: 快猫短视频 online, Stem Cell report.