Animal-Human Embryos For Research

The Catholic Church is fiercely opposed to the creation of animal-human embryos -- in March, the Catholic leader in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, called the concept "hideous." "It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which more comprehensively attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular bill," he said in an Easter Sunday sermon. "One might say that in our country, we are about to have a public government endorsement of experiments of Frankenstein proportion." Edward Leigh, the Conservative lawmaker who tabled the amendment proposing a ban, argued in the House of Commons that hybrid embryos were "ethically wrong and almost certainly medically useless." But the chief executive of the Medical Research Council, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, said the vote would help keep Britain at the forefront of research in the field. "It (the bill) brings the right balance of opportunities to make headway to find cures for some of the most pernicious diseases (...) whilst ensuring that appropriate safeguards are in place through the law and the regulator," he said. Hybrid embryos are created by inserting the nuclei of a human cell into an animal egg and can ensure a more plentiful supply of stem cells. The wide-ranging bill also backs the idea of "saviour sibling" children, who are created as a close genetic match for a chronically ill brother or sister, meaning their genetic material can help treat them. In addition, it could give lesbians easier access to IVF treatment by removing requirements for clinics to consider a child's need for a father.