Where does iPS Cell Technology Leave the Promoters of the Creation and Use of Admixed Animal-human Embryos?

摘要

The aim of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 is to provide "revised and updated legislation for assisted reproduction and changes to the regulation and licensing of the use of embryos in research and therapy". However, its "provision for research on different types of embryos" raises a number of serious scientific questions and ethical dilemmas, principally because it permits the controlled creation and use of admixed animal-human embryos, by replacing the nuclei of animal eggs with human nuclei or cells, in order to increase the availability of human embryonic stem cells for research on a wide range of serious diseases.