Doctors sidestep laws to import stem cell 'bank'

A vast "bank" of human stem cells is to be brought to Britain, bringing hope of new cures for fatal genetic diseases but fuelling ethical concerns about embryo research.

More than 140 stem cell lines - the building blocks of human life - have been created by specialists in the United States and allied clinics in Russia, Cyprus and Belize using donated IVF embryos.

The private bank, the largest of its kind in the world, will be made available without charge to British researchers hoping to find cures for inherited diseases including the degenerative disorder Huntington's, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and the blood disorder beta-thalassaemia.

A pioneering method of "tailoring" stem cells to a particular patient, which avoids the need for embryo cloning, will also be brought to Britain.

The fertility specialist Mohammed Taranissi will side-step strict laws governing embryo research to import the stem cells next month. Because the embryos were created overseas, a licence from the Government's fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, will not be needed.

The bank and new technology represents a huge scientific resource...