Clause 3ZA(5) of the HFE Bill contains a loophole which would allow a future Secretary of State to create regulations (which are barely debated by Parliament) allowing the creation of genetically modified or cloned children if the aim were to treat mitochondrial diseases (see diagram). The Government has publicly insisted that it is completely opposed to both genetic modification and cloning to create babies. HGA's letter to the Minister was taken up by Members of Parliament in discussions on the Bill in Committee on June 2nd, and the Minister offered to reexamine the wording of Clause 3ZA(5). However, the Government has decided not to close the loophole. In response, three Labour MPs, David Drew, Michael Meacher and David Taylor have written again to the Minister. They have also submitted an amendment to close the lophole for Report stage of the Bill, which will be on October 22nd.

These MPs have also submitted a further amendment on genetic modification research on embryos. The amendment does not block basic biomedical research, but prohibits research which is designed to develop technologies for creating GM children. Since the Government has stated that the HFE Bill is intended to provide a permanent ban on creating GM children, it would be illogical and a waste of taxpayers money to allow the development of technologies for that purpose. If the Government sincerely wants a permanent ban on GM children, it will support this amendment.

Human Genetics Alert has discovered that American scientists have created the world's first GM embryo. Read the Press Release we issued with other watchdog groups here.

Two page Parliamentary Briefing

9 page general briefing on the case against Human Genetic Modification: Genetic Modification: This Time it's Personal