Ministers will rethink Bill that could block stem-cell experiments

Tough new consent laws that would block cloning experiments involving embryonic stem cells are to be reviewed by the Government after a protest by leading scientists.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, a government whip, told the House of Lords yesterday that ministers would reconsider two sections of the Human Fertilisation and Embyrology Bill that would have delayed or even banned research into life-saving therapies.

A group of 29 biomedical scientists and administrators, including three winners of the Nobel Prize, wrote to The Times on Monday to raise their objections to the proposed measures, which they said would hold back vital sudies into diseases such as muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s and diabetes.

As the Bill stands, it would require all tissue used to create cloned embryonic stem cells to have the explicit consent of the donor. This would deny scientists access to valuable banks of tissue from patients who had donated it for medical research but who had not explicitly given their consent for experiments involving cloning.

The Bill will also make it illegal to use tissue from children in such research, even if they have illnesses that are likely to kill them in the first years of life and their parents are prepared to give consent.

Lady Royall said that while the Government could not yet accept the amendments proposed yesterday by Lord Patel, the chairman of the UK Stem Cell Network Steering Committee, it would consider them fully before the Bill returns to the Lords for its third reading.

“I am very willing to take this back and reflect further,” she said. She added that the Government’s position was that explicit consent from tissue donors was needed for cloning experiments using embryos, but that it would think again in light of “the very strong will of the House that we should take this amendment and reflect further”.

She said: “What we’re talking about is where donors have said tissue can be used for research, but they have not explicitly said the tissue can be used for the creation of embryos.

“We believe the use of their genetic material to create cloned embryos or human admixed [interspecies] embryos is exceptional and requires exceptional consent.”

Baroness Royall added that the Government had also received advice from its lawyers that specific consent was essential under the provisions of the Human Rights Act as it relates to family’s and people’s private lives.

She gave a commitment “to take this [legislation] back to see if there is a way forward that is compatible with the Human Rights Act”.

Lord Patel said: “I don’t understand what human rights section forbids the use of tissue samples, cells and cell lines collected over many years from dying patients who probably died of these diseases, and who would have wished while dying that by donating their tissue it might some day benefit others.”

Lord Patel added that children with some muscle-wasting, brain and immune system disorders had a life expectancy of only a few years and that the proposed law would exclude these conditions from the diseases that would potential benefits from stem-cell research.

His amendment was backed by Lord Walton of Detchant, an expert on muscular dystrophy.

Lady Royall added: “No one can give consent for an adult who lacks capacity, and for the same reason I do not believe it is right to do so on behalf of a child who is too young to give consent.

“If a child is incapable of giving consent because they are too young, it would be wrong for an adult to do so for them.”

She agreed that the Government needed to review its position.

Source - Times Newspapers Ltd

To contact one of our specialist lawyers please call 0800 61 66 81, or use the contact details at the top left of this page.