Britain moves to close loophole on human cloning

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Britain moves to close loophole on human cloning


LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Britain's minister of health, Alan Milburn, published emergency legislation on Thursday banning reproduction through human cloning in a move to close an embarrassing legal loophole.

The new bill would "prohibit the placing in a woman of a human embryo which has been created otherwise than by fertilisation," with a maximum penalty for the offence of 10 years in prison.

A government official said time had been allocated for the Human Reproductive Cloning Bill to pass all its stages in the House of Commons next Thursday.

British regulations on cloning were thrown into disarray last week after the High Court ruled current laws did not explicitly prohibit human reproductive cloning.

The decision effectively meant the Human Embryology Authority did not have the power to regulate human cloning, opening the door to controversial fertility specialists.

Immediately after the ruling, Italian doctor Severino Antinori said he planned to come to Britain to clone human babies.

Antinori has been ostracised by much of the international medical community over his intention to clone humans to help infertile couples have children.

The court ruling also said the law did not cover the use of cloned embryos for medical research.

Britain's biotechnology industry -- the biggest in Europe -- welcomed the move to close the loophole, which threatened to undermine the UK's leading position in stem cell research.

The BioIndustry Association said it was "totally opposed" to human reproductive cloning, but wanted to see an enlightened environment for scientific research.

Many scientists believe "therapeutic" cloning using embryonic stem cells could revolutionise medicine by allowing medics to grow grafts which are perfectly matched to individual patients.

Stem cells -- master cells usually derived from embryos or foetuses that can develop into different types of tissue -- hold promise for treating a range of diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson's and spinal cord injuries.

The British Medical Association also backed the government's new bill, saying it had been extremely concerned about the potential consequences of the court ruling.

The case had been brought by anti-abortion group Pro-Life Alliance, which wanted to challenge the government over its assurances that live birth cloning could not legally take place in Britain.