UK scientists given go ahead to clone human embryos

British scientists have for the first time been given permission to take fresh, viable eggs from women requiring fertility treatment in order to create cloned human embryos for stem cell research.

In return for donating some of their eggs the women will be offered free fertility treatment under an "egg sharing" scheme that is already used to help poorer couples to have their own babies.

Egg sharing usually involves poorer women donating some of their eggs to wealthier couples who need them for fertility treatment.

In return the wealthier couple pays for the poorer couple's IVF treatment.

Now the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is allowing the North East England Stem Cell Institute to extend the scheme to couples who volunteer to donate some of their eggs for cloning research.

The institute, which is a collaboration between Newcastle and Durham Universities and the NHS, can now fund the fertility treatment of women who will in return donate two out of 12 of their eggs for the stem cell research.

Alison Murdoch, professor of reproductive medicine at Newcastle University, said that the scheme should provide scientists with a source of fresh eggs for stem cell research using cell nuclear replacement - therapeutic cloning.

"Egg sharing, when someone pays for someone else's treatment, has already been approved by the HFEA.

What's different with this is that the eggs will go to research, not to another woman," Professor Murdoch said.

Scientists at the institute have already extracted stem cells from one cloned human embryo that was made from spare "failed to fertilise" eggs left over from fertility treatment.

However, these eggs are poor quality and the success rate for creating cloned embryos was extremely low.

The scientists would like access to a source of good-quality fresh eggs from younger women to improve the chances of creating cloned human embryos for stem cell studies.

"Volunteers have been essential to medical research for many years and this is just another way of engaging volunteers in a research project," Professor Murdoch said.

"All patients involved in egg sharing need IVF treatment to help them to have a baby.

We are helping them to have treatment they may not otherwise be able to afford.

"There is no additional physical risk to the woman as a result of egg sharing," she added.

The Newcastle institute had asked the HFEA for permission to use eggs donated by women not undergoing fertility treatment but this was turned down on the grounds of the risks involved.

The HFEA announced yesterday that it is to review the rules to see whether women not involved in fertility treatment who want to volunteer their eggs for research purposes should in future be allowed to do so.

The authority will launch a public consultation in September and will make recommendations next year, said Angela McNab, chief executive of the HFEA.

"We know there are a wide variety of views on the subject of donating eggs for research and we anticipate a strong response to the consultation from professional groups, scientists, clinicians and patients as well as the public," Ms McNab said.

The idea of asking healthy women to volunteer their eggs for stem cell research and cloning has been tarnished by events in South Korea where disgraced scientist Woo Suk Hwang admitted to using eggs from junior colleagues as well as offering unethical financial inducements.

- INDEPENDENT