Spain gives go ahead to research using therapeutic cloning

The Spanish Commission for the Control of the Donation and Use of Human Stem Cells, a body which depends on the Ministry for Health and Consumer Affairs, has given the green light to the first project in Spain which will use the technique known as nucleus transfer. This is therapeutic cloning to obtain lines of stem cells which are prepared specifically from the patient.

The research is led by Miodrag Stojkovic at the Centro Prínciple Felipe de Valencia, and is intended to investigate the molecular bases of two neurological illnesses, child epilepsy and hereditary palsy. Stojkovic was the first European scientist who managed to clone a human embryo from embryonic stem cells.

The Ministry for Health has also given its support to two other studies, one in Valencia and another in Madrid, but the final approval still has to be obtained from the regional governments in each region.