Japan Science Council Backs Human Embryo Cloning

24 July, 2004
 

Japan's top science council has agreed to policy recommendations that would allow for limited cloning of human embryos for research purposes, according to the Associated Press.

The council, headed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, will now ask the country's ministries to draft specific guidelines.

The recommendations, which were announced Friday, would permit researchers to produce and use cloned human embryos, but only for basic research, said Tomohiko Arai, an official at the Council for Science and Technology Policy. The cloning wouldn't be used for treating human patients. Arai declined to speculate on how long it might take to draft the guidelines, the AP said.

Many scientists back human embryo cloning to obtain stem cells that can be used to reproduce damaged body tissues or organs.

Japan banned human cloning in 2001, but has permitted researchers to use human embryos that aren't produced by cloning. Britain and South Korea allow therapeutic cloning. The United States prohibits any kind of embryo cloning and has lobbied strongly against it, the news service said.