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- LONDON - Britain extended
a ban on human cloning Thursday and said an independent advisory group
would be set up to assess the benefits and risks of the technology.
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- Tessa Jowell, the minister of public health, reaffirmed
the government's opposition to human reproductive cloning but said it would
have to consider carefully whether to allow therapeutic cloning research
to improve treatments for serious diseases.
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- "We believe that more evidence is required for such
research, its potential benefits and risks, and that account should be
taken of alternative approaches that might achieve the same ends,"
she said, in a decision which took British media and health pressure groups
by surprise.
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- Jowell said Britain's Chief Medical Officer, Professor
Liam Donaldson, would set up the advisory group to review research on cloning
and consult experts in Britain and abroad. The group is expected to report
its findings early next year.
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- Cloning of human embryos for reproduction or research
is forbidden under the 1990 Human Fertilization and Embryology Act but
a panel of medical and scientific experts had recommended restrictions
be eased to allow research on embryos to create cloned tissue or organs.
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- The government had been expected to follow their lead.
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- A joint report by the Human Genetic Advisory Commission
(HGAC) and the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which
licenses the country's fertility clinics, had suggested limited research
should be allowed.
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- The creation of Dolly the cloned sheep and advances in
cloning techniques had sparked a debate on how to regulate the technology
and tackle ethical issues.
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- Donaldson said the joint report did not provide enough
information to make a decision on human therapeutic cloning. "We have
to have an objective look at what the potential benefits and downsides
are," he told a news briefing.
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- "There is a lot of public concern about this and
we need to proceed very carefully," he added.
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- One of the areas the experts will look into is the use
of stem cells, which have not differentiated and can grow into a number
of different kinds of tissue, to treat diseases.
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- Donaldson denied that the delay would lead to a brain
drain of top scientific talent to other countries where research is less
restricted.
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- The joint report by the HFEA and the HGAC, which was
set up in December 1996 to advise the government on new developments in
human genetics, analyzed results of a consultation exercise on cloning
last year. Up to 80 percent of the public were against reproductive cloning.
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