Aggregated News
BRITISH women are to be cleared to donate eggs solely for cloning experiments that promise new therapies for diseases such as Parkinson_s and diabetes, The Times has learnt.
New rules to be approved tomorrow will for the first time allow scientists to recruit donors who are not already having medical treatment, in procedures that carry potential health risks.
The decision by the Government_s fertility watchdog has stirred fresh ethical controversy about therapeutic cloning, as the new donors run the risk of damaging their health for no direct benefit to themselves.
While egg donation is critical to cloning studies, it exposes women to potential complications that can cause kidney damage or death. Until now, these hazards have meant that only patients already having IVF or other gynaecological operations have been permitted to donate eggs for research.
The revised regulations are intended to address a shortage of donated eggs that has hampered efforts to produce cloned embryonic stem (ES) cells, and could accelerate the search for new treatments.
Opponents say that this would put women at risk for the sake of speculative...
New rules to be approved tomorrow will for the first time allow scientists to recruit donors who are not already having medical treatment, in procedures that carry potential health risks.
The decision by the Government_s fertility watchdog has stirred fresh ethical controversy about therapeutic cloning, as the new donors run the risk of damaging their health for no direct benefit to themselves.
While egg donation is critical to cloning studies, it exposes women to potential complications that can cause kidney damage or death. Until now, these hazards have meant that only patients already having IVF or other gynaecological operations have been permitted to donate eggs for research.
The revised regulations are intended to address a shortage of donated eggs that has hampered efforts to produce cloned embryonic stem (ES) cells, and could accelerate the search for new treatments.
Opponents say that this would put women at risk for the sake of speculative...
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