barcelona

At a time when public debate in Spain appears to be moving in favour of therapeutic cloning, the country's National Commission on Assisted Reproduction has come out in support of the use of non-embryonic stem cells as a potential source of human cell cultures, tissues and organs.

Its comments are included in a series of recommendations to the government on issues related to human reproduction, such as the preservation of frozen embryos, sperm and oocytes, and the donation of embryos.

The commission is headed by Enrique Castellón, under-secretary in the Ministry of Health, and is made up of 22 specialists from ministries and scientific societies, medical organizations and lawyers. In its first annual report, it emphasizes that both ethical and legal aspects of the concept of “embryo status” provide greater support to stem-cell research than to other techniques for producing cloned embryos for research.

According to the commission, general principles about considering human beings as an end rather than a means — as well as the right to be genetically unique and not genetically programmed — constitute a serious ethical objection against reproductive cloning by nuclear transfer of somatic cells.

At present, there are no well-established research teams engaged in cloning experiments in Spain, says the report, although this situation may change soon as the centres improve their technological capabilities.

The commission emphasizes that human reproductive cloning is forbidden by law in Spain, and proposes a hardening of the penal code, which it says could be misinterpreted in its present form, to penalize such activities.

Reproductive cloning by splitting embryos has only limited potential application, and would also be problematic from an ethical point of view, says the report.

The commission acknowledges the potential advantages of using non-reproductive human cloning to obtain tissues and organs for transplantation, but argues that the “problem” of the “embryo status” discourages the development of such techniques.

As a result, says the commission, “embryonic cells must be obtained by nucleus transfer. And this means the creation of a human embryo, even though it may have a few days of life, and its subsequent destruction in the lab to obtain cell cultures.”

Spain's Catholic Church has not issued any reaction to the report, but it is opposed to any form of artificial manipulation of embryos, on the grounds that “the human being has the right to be a product of the natural genetic randomization”.