Associated Press
British lawmakers voted on Monday to approve controversial plans to allow the use of human-animal hybrid embryos for stem cell research.
The changes provoked a stormy debate, pitting Prime Minister Gordon Brown and scientists against religious leaders, pro-life campaigners, and a large section of lawmakers.
Prime Minister Brown has said he believes scientists seeking to use human-animal hybrid embryos to treat diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's are on a moral mission to improve and possibly save millions of lives.
By allowing hybrid embryo experiments, British officials hope to maintain the U.K.'s reputation as a leading center for stem cell research.
British scientists say the country's progressive environment has led to many firsts, such as the first test-tube baby and the world's first cloned animal.
"I believe that we owe it to ourselves and future generations to introduce these measures, and in particular, to give our unequivocal backing within the right framework of rules and standards, to stem cell research," Brown wrote in an op-ed piece on Sunday for Britain's The Observer newspaper.
But opposition Conservative lawmaker Edward Leigh, who tabled an amendment seeking to ban the practice, said the technique was a step too far for science.
"In many ways we are like children playing with land mines without any concept of the dangers of the technology that we are handling," he said in the House of Commons.
Hybrid Cells
Creating hybrid embryos involves injecting an empty cow or rabbit egg with human DNA.
A burst of electricity is then used to "trick" the egg into dividing regularly, so that it becomes a very early embryo from which stem cells can be extracted.
Scientists say the embryos would not be allowed to develop for more than 14 days and are intended to address the shortage of traditional human embryos available for stem cell research.
