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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am not going to rehearse again the views that I expressed in debate on an earlier amendment—to the effect that the prospect of using an interspecies embryo, or should we call it an admixed embryo, which contains the nucleus of a human somatic cell and, surrounding it, the capsule of an animal egg can produce very many stem cells which are 99.95 per cent human and only 0.05 per cent animal. These embryos can therefore produce an enormously valuable source of stem cells which would be immunologically compatible with the individual from whom that somatic cell was removed. That is still the crux of this argument. There is a vast scientific literature on all aspects of stem cell research. This is a field in which the United Kingdom, for a variety of reasons, is in some respects leading the world. There are other parts of the world, particularly the United States, where, through private funds and not government funding, some research of this importance is continuing. There is no doubt that adult stem cells have a value and can be used for potential treatment of disease. This relates equally to umbilical cord cells, which are significantly less mature. However, as most scientific experts will say, those cells are much more difficult to program and manipulate in order to produce kidney cells, brain cells, nerve cells, heart cells, muscle cells and the other kinds of cells that are ultimately needed for the treatment of human disease. On the other hand, embryonic cells have a much greater pluripotential and can readily be manipulated to produce that kind of tissue. I hope that this is taken in the correct way, because I have no doubt about the total sincerity of my noble friend Lord Alton, with whom I have had many interesting and important arguments over the years. However, some of the attitudes of those writing in the medical and scientific press criticising the use of embryonic cells for research have been conditioned very much by religious beliefs. Many centuries ago in the Roman Catholic Church, St Thomas Aquinas, that great theologian, averred that life did not begin until the foetus was capable of independent existence outside the womb, but a pope in the middle of the 19th century laid down the edict that life began the moment the sperm entered the egg. In consequence, people of the Roman Catholic faith, ever since that time, have believed firmly that they should oppose all aspects of embryonic research. I have to say that I am a Christian, a lifelong member of the Methodist Church. I attend an Anglican church in Northumberland because there does not happen to be a Methodist church in the village where I live, but I firmly adhere to Christian beliefs and understanding. As regards the views of those in the Roman Catholic Church on embryonic research, I also have to point out that there are others of their own faith who do not agree with the complete ban on embryo research. I remember that when we debated the legislation in 1989 and 1990, I quoted the reverend Professor Norman Hunt, a distinguished Roman Catholic theologian from Australia, who took the view that it was perfectly proper to consider experiments on the human embryo up to 14 days after fertilisation, at which time the primitive streak is the first appearance of a human nervous system. It is on that basis that I have consistently supported embryonic research. I say to my noble friend Lord Alton in passing that the world leader in the use of olfactory ensheathing cells for the treatment of spinal cord injuries is Professor Geoffrey Raisman of the national hospital, Queen Square, and University College. He is absolutely outstanding in this field. In addition, there is no doubt that stem cell research is beginning to show an additional factor over and above the use of olfactory ensheathing cells for the treatment of spinal cord injury. That is important. In the scientific community world wide, there are those with the views which have been expressed who are bitterly opposed to all kinds of embryo research. Because of that belief, they oppose the idea of the admixed or interspecies embryo as well. But the great majority of world-wide research workers, as noble Lords will find if they care to consult papers produced by the Royal Society, the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the British Medical Association or the Academy of Medical Sciences, believe that the use of the admixed embryo for the development of stem cells for the treatment of human disease is a major development, and that embryonic stem cells have a far greater potential for the treatment of human disease than the adult cells derived from cord blood or other areas. With every possible respect to my noble friend Lord Alton, while I appreciate the total sincerity of his views, the amendment must be rejected.