Hybrid animal-human embryos face ban

Plans to create "hybrid" human embryos using the unfertilised eggs of cows or rabbits are to be rejected by Britain's embryology watchdog because of widespread opposition expressed by the public.

Scientists criticised the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) because they believe animal-human embryos are vital for research into serious disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and motor neurone disease.

Three teams of scientists have applied for research licences from the HFEA to use cow or rabbit eggs that can be fused with the genetic material of a human cell to create a cloned human embryo. The aim is to fuse the animal eggs with the DNA of a human skin cell taken from a patient with a particular disease. When the resulting embryo is six days old, the scientists will extract stem cells for research; the embryo would not survive beyond 14 days.

Because of the shortage of human eggs, the researchers need surrogate animal eggs to create cloned human stem cells from patients that can be studied to test drugs and treatments.

The authority will decide on the licences next week but it has already told the scientists informally it is unlikely to grant permission in the light of the Government's White Paper last month reviewing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.

Professor Stephen Minger, a stem cell scientist at King's College London, who has applied for a licence, said: "There is no good reason given by the Government either legally or ethically to ban this type of research. It is short-sighted and a knee-jerk reaction to a public consultation process."

In the White Paper, the Government said it proposes to ban the creation of human embryos from animal eggs because of the "considerable public unease with the possible creation of embryos combining human and animal material".

The scientists said the resulting embryos would be more than 99 per cent human in terms of their genetic material, with only a small proportion of the DNA coming from the animal's egg. "The stem-cell lines would only be used for research, not for therapy," Professor Minger said. "They would be used only for disease-in-a-dish models."