Fertility watchdog stays cloning ruling

BRITAIN’S fertility watchdog yesterday postponed a decision on whether to allow women to donate eggs for cloning research until it had gathered opinion from experts and members of the public.

Suzi Leather, chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said: “We are now going to prepare a proper consultation programme in this area so we can ensure that any policy we develop takes account of the full range of evidence and views.”

A number of scientists working in the fields of stem cell research and therapeutic cloning are waiting for the chance to obtain fresh eggs from volunteer women. At present, eggs used in this kind of research have to be “left-overs” from In-Vitro Fertilisation treatment.