'New laws needed' for embryo research

Scientists planning controversial experiments on human embryos are operating in a legal "grey area" because the legislation is 20 years out of date, MPs warned today.

The all-party Science and Technology Committee urged the Government to introduce new laws to regulate academic researchers and the fertility industry.

And it accused Britain's fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, of exceeding its powers when it gave doctors permission to go ahead in a groundbreaking "designer baby" case last year aimed at creating a bone-marrow donor.

The MPs claimed that the HFEA's rulebook offered no guidance on advances now in the pipeline, including the creation of embryos from cloned adult cells and the mixing of animal eggs with human cells.

The committee, chaired by biologist Dr Ian Gibson, said: "The Government should work on the premise that these developments will happen sooner rather than later, and introduce legislation accordingly."