Press Release

Ban lifted to allow human - animal embryos

17 May 2007

The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association welcomes the news that Ministers have moved away from an outright ban on human-animal hybrid embryos proposed last year. The move followed a White Paper proposal in January banning the hybrid embryos and attracted criticism from scientists, charities, patient groups and MPs.

The MND Association was one of the 233 patient group signatories to a letter to Tony Blair and Health Ministers, calling for hybrid embryo research to be allowed.

The draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, published this morning, will allow Parliament to re-examine the case for creating human-animal hybrid embryos to be used in stem cell research.

MND is a rapidly progressive, fatal disease. Around 5,000 people in the UK have MND at any one time. With no cure, half die within 14 months of diagnosis. Future research into MND will rely upon the technology developed to create human – animal hybrid embryos, as a source of stem cells.

If there was an outright ban, research into MND would be restricted. Stem cells offer a potential source of motor neurons for research, but progress in this area is hampered by a lack of human eggs.

Dr Belinda Cupid, Research Manager at the MND Association said: “I am delighted by this shift of position by Ministers. We hope that progress in this area will not be further delayed and that MND researchers can now work towards the Association’s vision of a world free of MND.”