Europe grapples with cloning headaches

The growing spectre of human reproductive cloning is putting unprecedented strain on some of the legislative bodies in Europe trying to keep a grip on it and the future of embryonic stem cell research. In Britain, which has gone further than many countries with detailed legislation to permit research on embryonic stem cells, a group of opponents late last year challenged the legislation, saying that it did not prevent human cloning. A senior British judge ruled that the law as it stood did not govern the latest scientific techniques, through which researchers can create a human embryo using a type of cloning rather than using human sperm. This meant the government technically had no control over stem cell research from such embryos. " The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has no power to stop this research. The law as it stands is hopeless and we are glad we have shown the government lie that human cloning is prohibited, " said Bruno Quintavalle, director of the Pro Life Alliance, which brough the case to court. Just 11 days after the court ruling, the government moved to rush emergency legislation through both houses of parliament to prevent an outbreak of unregulated embryo research in Britain by any maverick scientists wanting to clone human beings. Ministers will legislate again to clear up confusion, the health minister Lord Hunt, told members of the House of Lords, some of whom complained of hasty and unwise action in a field where earlier laws have already proved ineffectual in the face of scientific advance. " To make legislation on the hoof may not be the best way of dealing with things, " said Lord Alton, one vocal pro-life peer. The mood of urgency — ministers did not even wait for the appeal against the high court ruling — was strengthened by the news that a private biotech firm in Massachusetts had managed to clone a human embryo using the same technique developed by Edinburgh scientists to clone Dolly the sheep. It did so for therapeutic purposes only, the US firm stressed. But the claims by Severino Antinori, the Italian fertility doctor, and similar people in the US, that they have 200 women eager for cloned babies has alarmed authorities around the world. Further worries for the British goverment were raised last month. In an interview last month with Britain's Observer newspaper, Antinori said how much he would …