Aussie government lifts ban on embryo cloning for stem cell research
The Australian federal government passed legislation last night lifting the ban on embryo cloning for stem cell research purposes, despite the big guns against it.
In a rare conscience vote, the House of Representatives passed the controversial measures despite the Prime Minister urging MPs to vote against the bill because it eroded some of society’s most absolute values.
The new Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, also opposed the legislation, saying it crossed a fundamental ethical threshold by allowing human life to be created for the purpose of scientific experimentation.
The bill allows “for therapeutic cloning, the splicing of skin cells with eggs to produce an embryo from which stem cells - also known as master cells, which are capable of forming all the tissues of the human body - can be taken.”
