Politics
Tuesday February 27, 2007
British Government Drops Plans to Ban Human/Animal Hybrids
Caves in after open letter from small group of 45 scientists, ethicists and politicians
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Hilary White
LONDON, February 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The British government’s plans to ban the creation of human/animal hybrid embryos are over after a group of 45 scientists, ethicists and politicians published an open letter in January saying that a ban would hold back the advancement of British science.
The Times reports that the government is now dropping plans to ban the experiments and will instead offer funding for a public debate before new legislation is drafted.
The open letter, published in the Times in response to the government’s December 2006 announcement that it planned to draft legislation to ban hybrids, was signed by academic ethicists, members of the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research, the head of a biotechnology company and a number of scientists awaiting permission to carry out the research.
The letter said the research was necessary for improving the efficiency of therapeutic cloning techniques and that the Parliamentary committee had “concluded after a long inquiry that such research was ethically acceptable” and ought to be regulated by the existing agency.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has already received several requests from researchers to begin experiments with hybrids, including one from Dr. Ian Wilmut, the creator of Dolly the cloned sheep and one of the signatories of the Times letter.
Britain is regarded by many scientists and ethicists as having the most permissive national regulatory agency in the world. In recent years, the HFEA has allowed the creation of genetically modified “designer” babies to be used as tissue farms for sick siblings; the creation of cloned human embryos for stem cell experiments and the eugenic selection and destruction of “defective” human embryos in IVF treatments.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
UK Parliamentary Report Recommends Animal-Human Hybrids, Sex Selection and More
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/mar/05032406.html
Creator of Dolly Granted License to Clone Humans For Experimentation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05020806.html
English Scientists Ask Permission to Create Human/Cow Clones
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/nov/06110707.html
UK Cloning Doctor Wants to Create Human/Rabbit Hybrid Clones
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011306.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- BREAKING: US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 to 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Today
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 218 to 215
- Major Health Care Bill Development - Stupak Hyde Amendment Vote OK'd
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.