Hybrid embryo research unveiled

FOR the first time in Britain, researchers at Newcastle University have created human-animal hybrid embryos, amid an ongoing political row about a disputed embryo research bill that is due to be put to parliament next month.

The research, which was announced on Tuesday, has yet to be published or verified, with a spokesman for the university telling AFP news agency that the institution “wouldn’t claim it to be final at all”. It was first presented at a lecture in Tel Aviv on March 25.

The revelation comes as British MPs were locked in a fierce battle over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which would allow for the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for medical research.

Last month, the Labour Party said party lawmakers with moral or ethical objections would be allowed to vote against parts of the proposed legislation when it comes before parliament next month.

The embryos were created by injecting DNA taken from human skin cells into eggs derived from cow ovaries with almost all their genetic material stripped away, and lasted for three days in a laboratory.

The university spokesman said the research would likely be published in “months, rather than weeks”.

At present, researchers wanting to create such embryos have to apply for a licence from the regulatory Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and hybrid embryos have to be destroyed after 14 days.

The government says the scientific advantages of allowing the creation of hybrid embryos for research purposes could help millions of people to recover from illness or disease.

Religious leaders, however, have argued against the bill. Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien, branded the bill a “monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life”.