Clause 3 — Prohibitions in connection with embryos

Part of Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 3:30 pm on 22 October 2008.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of David Burrowes David Burrowes Shadow Minister (Justice) 3:30, 22 October 2008

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for her comments. Similar points were made in the other place. It is absolutely crucial that, at this late stage, we can have clear definitions. This issue has been raised by the media. Reference has been made to the media being dominated by the issue of abortion, but there have been other debates as well, and awareness of the issues has grown. Many of us are concerned that the awareness of stem-cell therapy should lead to greater support for, and investment in, adult stem-cell therapy that is producing the treatments that we all want.

Earlier this year, The Independent reported that a senior cloning scientist, Dr. Lanza, had warned that some might wish to use tetraploid complementation to create cloned babies by inserting human-induced pluripotent stem cells into human tetraploid embryos. It was reported that he had said that

"studies on mice have shown that it is possible to produce fully cloned offspring that are 100 per cent. genetically identical to the adult. This was achieved by using a type of defective mouse embryo with four sets of chromosomes instead of the normal two.

This 'tetraploid' embryo only developed into the placenta of the foetus and when it was injected with a reprogrammed skin cell, the rest of the foetus developed from this single cell to become a full clone of the adult animal whose skin was used.

None of the scientists working on cell reprogramming to produce induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—as the embryonic cells are known—plan to use it for human reproductive medicine. Their main aim is to produce (iPS) stem cells (from adult cells) for the therapeutic treatment of conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and stroke."

We note the great progress made in that regard.

The Independent stated that

"Dr Lanza said that the mouse experiments his company had done demonstrated how easily the technology could be used to produce cloned or chimeric babies", and he went on to say that we are opening up a "can of worms." We want to close that can of worms and ensure that the gap created is properly plugged. Dr. Lanza said that the technology

"could be used to produce cloned or chimeric babies by inserting iPS cells into early human embryos. This is not banned in many countries, where legislation has not kept pace with scientific developments."

He also said:

"In addition to the great therapeutic promise demonstrated by this technology, the same technology opens a whole new can of worms".