Parliament to Host Stem Cell Seminar

Law, policy and ethics experts will gather at the House of Lords today for a seminar to inform Parliament of the facts and arguments on stem cells that they say have often been ignored or discounted in public discussion.

|PIC1|The seminar entitled 'Stem Cells and Related Issues' will address the ethical and policy challenges presented by the continually changing scope of research involving the human embryo. These challenges have now been complicated by the prospect of embryos that are part-human, part-animal.

The UK's technical lead in many aspects of this technology places a special burden on its policy choices as they are watched around the world.

At the same time, other nations have grappled with these issues, and the organisers of the Lords seminar say it is vital that Parliament is aware of the wider global debates.

One speaker, Professor Nigel Cameron, will set the stem cell/cloning debate in its global context.

He said: "It is widely believed in the UK that only pro-life activists oppose the mass-production cloning of embryos for 'therapeutic' research purposes."

He added: "This is a big mistake. In Canada and France - probably the most liberal and secular countries in the world - researchers who clone embryos for research face lengthy prison terms, and the United Nations General Assembly has urged all member states to prohibit the practice."

The seminar will host speakers Lord Brennan QC, Dr Calum Mackeller, Director of Research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, Dr Jacqueline Laing, Senior Law Lecturer at the London Metropolitan University, Charlotte Thorneycroft, Barrister, and Professor Nigel Cameron, Executive Chairman of Biocentre.