Regulation of therapeutic cloning in the UK

The history and responsibilities of the British Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority are described. Its establishment by law in 1990 and its duties of licensing clinics, issuing a Code of Practice, maintaining a Register of treatments, giving advice and licensing new treatments are traced. Although research on embryos was legalized in the UK in 1990, a change in the law was required in 2001 to permit therapeutic cloning and research on embryos for the purposes of seeking treatments for serious disease. The detailed process of licensing stem cell research is described, together with a description of new licences issued and the legal challenges to the new law and to the licences that have been issued by the Pro-Life Alliance. An account is given of the ban on reproductive cloning contained in the Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001 and the findings of the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research, 2002. It is concluded that the mechanisms exist in Britain to regulate stem cell research in an ethical fashion and to prohibit reproductive cloning by law.