Organs Bill 'will stifle life-saving research'

Research to find cures for fatal genetic disorders and diseases such as Aids will suffer a serious setback under plans to reform the law on storing body parts, scientists warned today.

A Bill going through Parliament will strictly control the use of organs and tissues by hospitals to try to prevent further scandals such as Alder Hey and Bristol, when scientists took organs from dead children without consent.

Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust say the Human Tissues Bill could stifle research on serious illnesses such as child leukaemia, cancer, Sars and Aids. The Medical Research Council, which spends £430m each year on scientific studies, broadly agrees.

The charities and the Royal College of Pathologists claim their protests have been ignored by ministers even though research has already been hit by events: after Alder Hey, 10 projects on rare tumours in children either folded or failed to start.

Ministers discount the fears. But opposition MPs and peers, led by the Liberal Democrats, will try to overturn the Bill's most contentious measures. According to the protesters, the Bill's imprecise wording on consent would lead to a lot of costly bureaucracy and a risk of jail for researchers breaking the rules. The difficulties also cast doubt on the future of the new National Cancer Tissue Research database.

But Rosie Winterton, the Health minister overseeing the Bill, said the aim was simply to encourage best practice in laboratories.