House Of Lords reject challenge to therapeutic cloning
13 March 2003
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority today said it was satisfied that a challenge, through judicial review in the House of Lords, to regulations passed in 2001 to allow 'cloned' human cells to develop embryos for stem cell research had been rejected.
The central issue was whether the organism created by cell nuclear replacement (CNR), often referred to as an 'embryo', fell within the definition of embryo in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The ProLife Alliance had previously argued in court that because 'cloned' embryos were not the product of fertilisation, they were not covered by the Act which defines embryos as 'cells having undergone fertilisation'.
The House of Lords judgment makes clear that embryos created outside the body come within the regulatory scope of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, regardless as to how the embryos were created. Today's decision means that the HFEA is able to license research projects involving CNR (where the nucleus of an adult cell is inserted into a donated egg from which the nucleus has been removed) and parthenogenesis (where unfertilised eggs are induced to divide by chemical or electronic stimuli).
Embryos created by these means have the potential to help scientists understand the mechanisms by which cells divide and differentiate (i.e. become specialised) and de-differentiate (i.e. re-programme).
HFEA chair, Suzi Leather said:
'The assurance that the regulatory system in the UK applies to all types of embryos, provides a firm basis for research to take place in this country. It is reassuring that the five law lords who heard the appeal dismissed it unanimously.'
Ends
Notes for editors
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 permitted research on human embryos (including embryonic stem cells) for purposes concerned with reproduction. The Human Fertilisation (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001 extended the purposes for which research on human embryos could be undertaken to include research for 'serious disease'.
The HFEA has approved three licences for research projects involving embryonic stem cells under the new Regulations. Summaries of these are available on the HFEA website.
No licences have yet been approved that involve embryos created by CNR.
The Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001 banned reproductive cloning by making it an offence to place in a woman a human embryo which has been created otherwise than by fertilisation.
For further information please contact the HFEA press office.
Page last updated: 12 March 2009
Interested in embryo research currently taking place? Read summaries of projects licensed by the HFEA.