Press Release

Ban on hybrid and chimera embryos is unacceptable

5 April 2007

A report issued today by the Science and Technology Committee concludes that Government plans to ban the creation of hybrid and chimera embryos are “unacceptable and potentially harmful to UK science.”

The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association welcomes the conclusions of the inquiry. The Association is one of the 233 patient group signatories to a letter to Tony Blair and Health Ministers calling for hybrid and chimera embryo research to be allowed.

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 chimeras, as a source of stem cells.

If the Government proposals are upheld, research into MND will be restricted. Stem cells offer a potential source of motor neurones 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: “Clearly there are ethical and practical concerns to be addressed. But the Association believes that to take a step back now and not explore all possible methods of finding cures for diseases such as MND would be unacceptable.

“Research provides hope for many people living with a devastating disease such as MND. Through the curbing of research we will be seriously setting back the work of MND researchers today and in the future. “