US group questions human embryo research, calls for rules

A US public interest group has called for the US to set up national bioethics standards and regulations on embryonic research after a group of scientists in New York State produced a genetically-engineered embryo, dpa reported.

The Center for Genetics and Society, located in Oakland, California, said Tuesday the need for such standards was clear after the research at Cornell University was brought to light by a London newspaper over the weekend. Britain is in the process of revamping its genetic research laws.

Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the US urgently needs federal bioethical standards and a regulatory panel similar to those in Canada and Britain or even Germany, which has some of the most stringent rules on genetic research.

"The prospect of genetic technology being used to introduce new types of genetic inequality and social division, to create genetically-enhanced children is the core of our concern," Darnovsky said.

A brief account of the study by scientists at Cornell University was published in September 2007 in the journal Fertility and Sterility...