British MPs have voted against permitting the use of embryos under 14 days old in stem cell research. The Private Members Bill was rejected on Tuesday evening by 175 votes to 85.
Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris, who proposed the bill, argued that embryonic tissue should be used 鈥渇or the purposes of research into the development of regenerative therapies鈥� for diseases such as Parkinson鈥檚 or Alzheimer鈥檚.
But Conservative MP Edward Leigh called the proposal 鈥渕orally and ethically repugnant . . . the Bill is a gradual and inevitable road to hell.鈥�
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The defeat has alarmed scientists. In August, the British government accepted recommendations from its Chief Medical Officer that go much further. They advocate the cloning of embryos for use in stem cell research. Later this year, MPs will be given a free vote on the issue.
But public health minister Yvette Cooper needs to do a 鈥渕ajor communication job鈥� on MPs, if a therapeutic cloning bill is to be passed, says Alistair Kent of the independent Genetic Interest Group.
鈥淭he defeat of Evan鈥檚 bill is very disappointing. But hopefully it will act as a rallying call,鈥� he says.
鈥淥ne of the key messages that has come out of the defeat is that the MPs didn鈥檛 really understand the issues involved. There are a lot of MPs out there who probably would support this research if they did,鈥� he says.
MPs will receive a background briefing on stem cell research on Tuesday, says Brian Heap of Cambridge University. He was a member of the Chief Medical Officer鈥檚 group on therapeutic cloning. The briefing will be given by a team from the Medical Research Council and the Royal Society.
Scientists hope that the 鈥榩rimordial鈥� stem cells could be used to treat diseases by coaxing them to grow into transplantable tissue. Although it is possible to isolate the cells from adults, most scientists think research on stem cells from embryos is vital.
鈥淲hat we want to get across is that adult stem cells may have only limited applications, and that research on embryonic stem cells is important for our understanding of these cells鈥� potential in treatments,鈥� says Heap.
鈥淲e have to keep the stem cell discussion quite separate from any discussion on cloning,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t does concern quite a number of us that the two discussions are becoming confused.鈥�