Briten erlauben das Klonen von menschlichen Embryonen

Nach Informationen des "Observer" hat sich die britische Regierung entschlossen, das therapeutische Klonen von menschlichen Embryonen im Frühstadium zu erlauben. Im September soll die Entscheidung offiziell bekannt gegeben werden. Britische Wissenschaftler versprechen sich dadurch möglichweise eine führende Rolle in der Gentechnologie. In Deutschland ist das Klonen von menschlichen Embryonen (noch?) verboten.

Original Artikel aus dem "Observer" vom 30.7.2000:

Human embryos to be cloned

Church fury over `spare parts' research

Kamal Ahmed and Gaby Hinsliff
Sunday July 30, 2000

To the fury of religious groups, permission for the use of so-called `Frankenstein technology', to be announced by Ministers in September, may ultimately mean that cells from embryos can be cloned and used to grow new tissue for medical use. Initially, however, scientists will be allowed to clone embryos only for research purposes.
The decision will allow British scientists to take a world lead in cloning research. By taking cells from the embryos, scientists will not only be able to grow new brain tissue to replace damaged material, but also new skin for grafts for burns' victims and ultimately new organs such as hearts, kidneys and livers.
Cloning would also allow people to have a `tissue bank' to deal with any illness from lung disease to diabetes. Eventually whole limbs could be grown in laboratories. It will mean an end to waiting for donor organs, a situation that often ends in the death of patients.
Although the news will be greeted with delight by the scientific community, it will plunge the Government into a new battle with `pro-family' groups and religious organisations who argue that using embryos is tantamount to sacrificing one human being's welfare for another.
`We are fundamentally opposed to any such development,' said Tom Horwood, spokesman for the Catholic Church. `A human embryo is a human life. It is creating a human life for the purposes of cloning.'
Lord Alton, the pro-life peer, has described the technique as `technological cannibalism'. But Richard Dawkins, the leading Oxford University biologist, said that any ethical attack on the research should be dismissed.
`The moral implications of using human embryos are rather less than those connected with using mammals and other species for scientific experiment,' he said. Cloning embryos is one of the most controversial scientific procedures. It was banned two years ago because Ministers feared a public backlash against scientists who were accused of `playing God' with people's lives.
The technique involves taking cells from adults, creating an embryo and injecting it into a human egg donated by a woman.
Last year the Government asked the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Liam Donaldson, to investigate the issue. His report, sent to Ministers in May and yet to be published, is thought to back cloning with certain ethical safeguards.
Scientists will not, for example, be allowed to use cells taken from aborted human foetuses. The cloning of whole people will also remain banned.
Lord Sainsbury, the Science Minister with responsibility for the issue along with the Department of Health, announced the Government's decision in an unguarded comment yesterday.
In an interview, he said: `The important benefits which can come from this research outweigh any other considerations one might have.'
Although he said it was `a personal view', official sources admitted he was reflecting the Government's mood.
However, Sainsbury's comments have caused irritation in Government circles. Ministers wanted to publish the Donaldson inquiry first, to show that the science community backed their decision. Critics now say that the Donaldson report was merely a smokescreen to cover up the fact that the Government had already made a decision.
`Surely the Government should have published the report, allowed a debate and then come to a decision,' said John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.

Quelle: www.observer.co.uk

The report of the CMO's Expert Group on Therapeutic Cloning - " Stem Cells: Medical Progress with Responsibility ", published on August, 16th 2000.

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