04 April 2003

This information is provided courtesy of Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free on-line information service.

www.law-now.com

US votes to ban cloning

Recently, the US House of Representatives voted in
favour of banning research on stem cells for both
reproductive and therapeutic purposes. The
proposed Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003
has yet to be enacted. If the Act is implemented,
there will be huge concern amongst the US biotech
industry as the Act will impact on current and
future research into Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinson's disease, cancer, spinal injuries and
many other serious disorders.

In contrast, the UK has banned only human
reproductive cloning, through the Human
Reproductive Cloning Act 2001 but still allows
therapeutic cloning, through the Human
Fertilisation and Embryology (Research)
Regulations 2001.

If the US ban is fully approved, then the UK may
be a more attractive place for American researchers
to carry out their therapeutic cloning research.

For further information please contact Stephen
Whybrow on +44 (0)20 7367 2175,
stephen.whybrow@cmck.com or Nick Beckett on
+44 (0)20 7367 2490, or nick.beckett@cmck.com
Andrew Whitworth on +44 (0)20 7367 3470,
andrew.whitworth@cmck.com .