Scottish Council on Human Bioethics

15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DP, Tel: 0131 447 6394

14 December 2006

Press release:

Scottish ethics body extremely concerned about new UK Embryo Law

The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics (SCHB) indicated that it was extremely concerned about new proposals in fertility and embryological legislation from the UK Department of Health published today.

The SCHB agreed that the possibility to legalise the creation of embryonic animal-human combinations under licence is extremely worrying and would completely isolate the UK in its unethical stance. In this regard, Dr. Calum MacKellar indicated "The UK is beginning to be considered by other countries as an ethically isolated and rogue state in which the science lobby is always given the green light." Even just last week the Australian House of Representatives prohibited the creation of animal-human combinations [1].

And if the embryos created are considered as human, it would contravene the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (CETS No.: 164) which has already been Ratified by 20 European States (with another 14 having signed their intention to ratify) which states in Article 18 that "The creation of human embryos for research purposes is prohibited."

With respect to proposed benefit of creating animal-human embryonic combinations in developing possible treatments for conditions such as motor neurone disease, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, Dr. MacKellar said: "What guarantee can researchers provide that producing embryos from a mixture of human and non-human material is likely to facilitate research into late-onset disorders where we do not know which genes are involved?” adding “If the purported benefits of the proposed research are realistic and not mere hype, then how can one be confident that such embryos would never develop into a creature with both human and non-human attributes?"

Dr. MacKellar also stated that "If the 'overarching aim is to pursue the common good through a system broadly acceptable to society', as stated by Health Minister Caroline Flint in the forward to this report, then how can the Department of Health demonstrate such broad public acceptance in the absence of any prior consultation on the relevant issues?"

And in the context of additional Department of Health proposals for the abolition for the need for a father in fertility treatment, Dr. MacKellar indicated that: "Not only does the Government think children are not entitled to fathers, it also asserts that human cloned embryos must have cows for mothers."