GENEVA, November 21, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Swiss Radio International reported Wednesday that the Swiss government has proposed a draft law permitting importation of embryonic stem cells and the use of embryonic humans 'left over' from fertility clinics. The bill does, however, ban all human cloning for both reproductive and therapeutic purposes.
Gerard Escher, advisor to the secretary of state for science said, "This is the most liberal law that we can push through within the present constitution." The bill, which is expected to take 18 months to pass through parliament, allows research on embryonic humans up to 14 days old.
According to the report, economic considerations factored into the decision to allow the controversial research. The report suggests that the worldwide market volume stood at $400 million US dollars in 2000. It is estimated that this will rise to $12.9 billion dollars by 2005, and $57.7 billion dollars by 2010.