British Parliament debates therapeutic cloning

The House of Commons on Friday began debating proposed regulations that would for the first time allow U.K. researchers to derive stem cells from human embryos up to 14 days old and use them to develop therapies. Public Health Minister Yvette Cooper emphasized that the proposed regulations, which would amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990, will continue the U.K.'s strict ban on human reproductive cloning and that research would be strictly regulated. She also said that embryonic stem cell research only would be allowed if it were aimed at treating "serious" diseases. ...