Government "cybrid" back down doesnt go far enough

With the announcement of the draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, it appears that the government has yielded to scientific pressure on the use of human-animal “cybrid” embryos – but many researchers have said the bill does not go far enough.

Injection of a human nucleus into an empty animal egg creates a "cybrid"

The draft Bill comes after recent government proposals to potentially restrict research using chimaera embryos and appears to reverse the government’s position. However, many scientists are concerned that the intention to permit creation of “cybrid” embryos is only set out alongside the Bill, as opposed to being contained in the draft legislation its self.

This means that as it stands “cybrid” embryo creation would be banned. Many researchers are hopeful that the draft Bill will be amended after a scrutiny committee looking at the legislation reports on 25 July.

Sir Richard Gardner, Chair of the Royal Society’s stem cell working group, said: “It is disappointing that the Bill as it stands would ban the creation of human-animal cybrid embryos for stem cell research. However the Department of Health has stated its desire to make such research possible. The challenge is now to ensure this commitment is delivered. This responsibility sits with the scrutiny committee to ensure any new legislation is, as the Government stresses, “fit for the future” to enable research groups to develop stem cell therapies that could benefit patients globally.”

By injecting a human nucleus into empty animal eggs and creating a “cybrid - or cytoplasmic hybrid - researchers can overcome the shortage of human eggs to create embryos for stem cell research.

Some feel that not only does the draft Bill not go far enough, but that the ability to control this kind of research should lie with the specialist regulators - Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) - rather than the government.

Dr Stephen Minger, Director of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at King's College London told Laboratory News: “We welcome the government’s support for our research. However we feel this should be permitted by the regulator rather than government. Only the regulators have the scientific and ethical expertise to assess cutting edge science.”

Dr Minger’s group is one of two that have applied to the HFEA for licences to create “cybrid” embryos. The research of both groups has been held up while the HFEA defers its decision until the completion of a public consultation in July.  

Predictably for an area of research that can attract ethical unease, others have said that the draft Bill, even as it stands, goes too far. Josephine Quintavalle of Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE) told Laboratory News: “The Draft Bill on Human Tissue and Embryology is 229 pages of wordy legalese which in essence simply gives a blank slate to scientists to do anything they want.

“The idea that human embryos can be used for training purposes by would-be embryologists is high up on our list of the numerous unpalatable aspects of this proposed Bill.”

Creation of “cybrids” is currently banned in France, Germany, Italy and Australia.