Laws will ban reproductive cloning

Ministers are today publishing draft laws to explicitly ban human reproductive cloning.

The move follows a High Court ruling last week which pointed out a loophole in current legislation. Judges decided a cloned organism is not an embryo, so is not covered under existing law.

The measures being unveiled today by Health Secretary Alan Milburn will be rushed through Parliament, starting in the Lords next week.

By closing the loophole, the Government aims to allow scientists to carry on using therapeutic cloning to find cures for diseases. MPs and peers who oppose the use of embryos for research will oppose the legislation, but it is likely to be approved by a majority in both Houses of Parliament.

Last week's ruling made clear that a clone is not a union of an egg and a sperm, so it does not count as an embryo and its use is, therefore, not regulated.

The doctor behind human cloning