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英国では6月に医療のため人クローン研究をやろうという話が持ち上がっていたようですが、11日にロビー活動していたグループに研究の許可がおりた模様。
Newcastle scientists get human cloning go-ahead
Donald MacLeod
Wednesday August 11, 2004
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,,1280916,00.html
Scientists at Newcastle University today became the first researchers in the UK to be granted permission to clone human embryos for medical research.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has approved an application from a team led by Professor Alison Murdoch and Dr Miodrag Stojkovic to clone human embryos and use them as sources of embryonic stem cells.
Such cells have the potential to form any of the hundreds of different tissues found in the body. The researchers aim to use them to find a solution to diabetes.
Cloning human embryos to make babies is outlawed in Britain, but so-called therapeutic cloning, whereby embryos are created for research, was made legal under strict guidelines in 2002.
Today Professor Murdoch, of the Newcastle NHS fertility centre, said: "We're absolutely thrilled. The potential this area of research offers is immensely exciting and we are keen to take the work we've done so far to the next level. Since we submitted our application we have had overwhelming support from senior scientists and clinicians from all over the world and many letters from patients who may benefit from the research."
She added: "This research should give valuable insight into the development of many diseases. Realistically, we have at least five years of further laboratory-based work to do before we move to clinical trials but this could be reduced if we receive additional funding which would allow us to increase the size of our team."
Many scientists believe embryonic stem cell research could usher in cures for conditions as diverse as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and motor neurone disease. But the technique is controversial. President George Bush has opposed its development in the US and critics in the UK had called on the HFEA to reject the Newcastle application, calling the research unethical, unnecessary and dangerous.
Dr Stojkovic, a reader at Newcastle University, added, "Newcastle is now the national frontrunner in this area of research but pressure is mounting in the United States for its scientists to be allowed to do this work. If we are to stay at the cutting edge, we must get further financial backing or, as has happened before, the UK will lose out."
The authority can grant licences for research on embryos only if the work meets at least one of three tests: that it will increase our understanding of how embryos develop, improve our knowledge of serious disease, or enable the development of treatments for serious disease. Embryos created for research must be destroyed before they are 14 days old, when they are a ball of cells no larger than a pinhead.
The HFEA has already studied the Newcastle scientists' CVs, sent the team's application to leading academics for comment and carried out an inspection of the labs where the research might take place.
The Newcastle group plans to take unfertilised eggs, which would otherwise be discarded as surplus from IVF clinics, and remove the genetic material inside them. The hollowed-out eggs will then be filled with genetic material taken from the skin cells of diabetics.
やはり中絶反対（pro-life）グループが非難しているそうです。
Green light for stem cell clones
Pro-life group's anger as university team is granted first licence to create human embryos for research
David Adam, science correspondent
Thursday August 12, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/genes/article/0,2763,1281376,00.html
Britain was yesterday placed at the forefront of global research into potential stem cell therapies for a range of incurable diseases as the go-ahead was given for the cloning of human embryos.
In a controversial move that delighted scientists and infuriated pro-life campaigners, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority gave a team at Newcastle University the first licence to create embryos and extract stem cells from them for research.
Scientists believe stem cells - which have the potential to form any of the body's hundreds of different tissue types - hold the key to treating conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases and diabetes. But critics said the work is unethical and unnecessary, and warned it could help maverick scientists trying to clone a human baby.
Miodrag Stojkovic, from the university's Institute of Human Genetics, said: "We are ready to go as soon as the paperwork is sorted out. It has taken a year of work, and I am most pleased that the HFEA has recognised the potential of this technology in modern medicine."
The Newcastle team will use the same technique used to create Dolly the sheep. They plan to insert DNA from skin cells into eggs left over from IVF treatment, which have had their own genetic material removed. Nurturing the eggs for six to eight days produces a tiny ball of around 100 cells, no bigger than a pinhead, from which stem cells can be extracted.
If the skin DNA was taken from a diabetic, then, in theory, the resulting embryonic stem cells could be grown into new pancreatic tissue and transplanted back into the patient with no risk of rejection.
"What we want to do is to see if these embryonic stem cells have the ability to differentiate into insulin-producing cells," said Dr Stojkovic. The scientists hope to produce the first stem cells within two years, though it could take at least five before any new therapies are tested in clinical trials.
Cloning human embryos to make babies is outlawed in the UK, but so-called therapeutic cloning, where the embryo is destroyed after the stem cells are extracted, was made legal under strict guidelines in 2002.
Last year the Newcastle scientists became one of the first two groups in Britain to derive embryonic stem cells from spare IVF embryos. It asked the HFEA to allow the cloning research in February.
The chair of the HFEA Suzi Leather said: "After careful consideration of all the scientific, ethical, legal and medical aspects of the project, the HFEA licence committee agreed to grant an initial one year research licence. This is an important area of research and a responsible use of technology."
The first task for the Newcastle scientists will be to repeat the work of colleagues in South Korea, who announced in February that they had cloned the world's first human embryos and extracted stem cells. The South Korean team used dozens of fresh eggs from volunteers, which are more suitable for cloning than those left over after IVF.
Pro-life groups said they were taking legal advice in a bid to overturn the ruling.
Jack Scarisbrick, national chairman of the group Life, said: "The decision is not unexpected given the HFEA's lamentable track record.
"We deplore this further step down the slippery slope. Therapeutic cloning involves the manufacture of a new kind of human being with the express purpose of destroying that life once stem cells have been stripped from it. It is the manipulation, exploitation and trivialisation of human life of a most frightening kind."
The UN will discuss moves to ban reproductive and therapeutic cloning in October. The UK and others are lobbying for individual countries to be allowed to decide whether to allow therapeutic cloning.
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