Sky News Headline; says: 'Scientists are today expected to be given the go-ahead to create human-animal embryos.The hybrid embryos will be produced by mixing human cells with animal eggs. Controversially, the embryos will only be 99.9% human. Around 0.1% of the DNA will be from the animal.The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is likely to approve the work after a public consultation found the majority of people were at ease with the research.
The decision will infuriate religious groups, who say scientists are playing God.The hybrids will be used to generate stem cells, which could lead to new treatments for currently incurable conditions, such as Parkinson's and motor neurone disease.
Professor Lyle Armstrong of Newcastle University has already applied for a licence to create hybrid embryos. He told Sky News that the shortage of human eggs has held back stem cell research. "I get three to four good quality human eggs a month. But in one day I can get 200 cow eggs from a local slaughter house. It offers us the chance to make stem cell technology more accessible to everyone."
The hybrid technique involves removing almost all the DNA from a cow or rabbit egg and then inserting the genes from a human cell. After a few days the developing embryo produces stem cells, which can be harvested by scientists.
Liz Shipley, who has motor neurone disease, supports the research. Her muscles are increasingly paralysed and there is no treatment.
"I am confident that this will unlock the key to MND and result in a cure. I know it won't happen in my lifetime. Hopefully in future it will," she said.
Scientists will have to destroy the embryos when they are less than 14 days old, and they will be banned from implanting them in a womb. But that is not enough to appease critics such as Dr Helen Watts of the Catholic Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics.
"Human conception is something very special which should be kept separate from animal reproduction," she said. "Not only are we creating this embryo for destructive experiments, but we are further demeaning it by giving it a non-human parent."
