France opens door to use of embryos in stem-cell research

Paris

The French government is to submit a bioethics bill to parliament that would lift its ban on human embryo research.

The decision was widely expected, but some observers are surprised that the bill does not expressly prohibit therapeutic cloning of human embryos to create embryonic stem cells. Last month, advisers to the European Union concluded that such a move would be “premature” (see Nature 408, 277; 2000).

Research minister Schwartzenberg will not rule out cloning. Credit: AFP

But the bill will state that it should “not be excluded a priori”, says Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg, the research minister and chief sponsor of the measure, as it may become necessary should other techniques fail. He points out that cells or tissues derived from embryonic stem cells produced by cloning for transplantation would not be rejected by the patient's body.

The bill — an update of France's 1994 bioethics legislation — would allow research on embryos left over from in vitro fertilization procedures. Research would be restricted to embryos less then 6–7 days old and to circumstances in which no effective alternatives existed.

Protocols would be evaluated and overseen by a proposed new government-appointed body. This would be responsible for human reproduction, developmental biology and genetics, and predictive medicine.

The bill has been drafted largely by the pro-science research ministry. Government officials predict that it will face a rough ride through the conservative senate, and perhaps even the parliament, where a Socialist-led coalition holds a majority.

Opponents will argue that creating embryos for research runs counter to the European convention on bioethics, which France has signed, and that the proposed therapeutic cloning provisions would prevent France from ever ratifying the convention.

Others say that the bill is calculated to defer difficult decisions. “The new authority will rule on a case-by-case basis, meaning that decisions will be postponed until four or five years down the line,” says one official.