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A law allowing researchers in Britain to create short-lived human clones
passed its final legal hurdle this week. On Monday, the House of Lords followed
last month’s decision in the Commons
(New Scientist, 6 January, p 9)
and cleared the new law by 212 votes to 92. Researchers in Britain can already
study infertility with embryos up to two weeks old. Now they can try to
regenerate human tissue from stem cells taken from early embryos that are
donated or cloned to seek cures for “serious diseases”, such as Alzheimer’s and
Parkinson’s. “I’m very relieved,” says Austin Smith, a stem…