MELBOURNE, Australia- Rejecting arguments that stem cell regulations in Australia are too permissive, an independent group the July 7 advised the government not to change the rules. "The Australian current legislation strikes the right balance by allowing valuable research to occur while providing clear safeguards to address concerns held by the wider community," said Megan Munsie, a spokesman of the Stem Cell Center Australia.
in 02, Australia passed a law legalizing the use of surplus embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics to obtain embryonic stem cells. the law prohibits human cloning, but after a review in 05, the law was changed the following year to allow therapeutic cloning, or somatic cell nuclear transfer. Australian researchers have so far generated more than 50 embryonic stem cell lines derived from surplus embryos and three research groups were allowed to attempt nuclear transfer of somatic cells.
opponents argued that the law should be canceled since embryonic stem cells can now be generated from induced pluripotent stem cells , a technique which does not contain human embryos. After a review of six months, a five-member committee headed by former judge of the Federal Court Peter Heerey advised Parliament not to tinker with the regulations.
"We are pleased that human embryos can continue to be generated by nuclear transfer somatic cell for the production of human embryonic stem cells," says Justin St. John, director of the Center for Reproductive and Developmental at Monash medical research Institute of Victoria. "It remains to determine whether the generation of stem cells by unfounded approaches eggs will be an effective approach."
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