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12 August 2004
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics (SCHB) indicated, today, that it was very concerned with the decision of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to grant a licence enabling British scientists to clone human embryos.
This follows an application to the HFEA by Newcastle researchers to create such embryos. A similar application has also been submitted to the HFEA by the Edinburgh Scientists who cloned Dolly on the 21 April 20041.
Dr. Calum MacKellar, Director of Research of the SCHB, indicated that "it is very surprising that the HFEA made such an important decision when the manner in which its decisions are being taken is being investigated by the House of Commons"2 adding that "the HFEA is not taking public opinion sufficiently into account."
He also indicated that "This decision will inevitably help maverick scientists who want to clone human beings."
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics is also concerned that the proposed Newcastle University experiments will breach European Law. Indeed, Article 18.2 (Research on embryos in vitro) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine3 states that:
In this respect, Dr. MacKellar indicated that "the UK is one of the only countries in Europe where such an experiment is even being considered" adding that "it would be very unwise for the HFEA to go it alone and ignore European Legislation."
The SCHB is of the opinion that it would like to see more public discussions taking place about the different issues before any decision is made by the HFEA.
1 Dolly scientists to clone embryos, BBC, 21.6.2004 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3645037.stm
2 http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/science_and_technology_committee/scitech300304.cfm
3 European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Word/164.doc