In a challenge to the regulations brought by the Pro-Life Alliance, a High Court judge had to decide whether the definition of an embryo, written into the 1990 act, could embrace an embryo produced by nuclear transfer. He said no. Thus, none of the provisions in the act could be applied to cloned embryos. In one judicial stroke, the basis for allowing therapeutic cloning and the mechanism for prohibiting reproductive cloning simply vanished. Stem cell research remained unaffected, as long as the embryos used are products of fertilization.
The government responded immediately, announcing its appeal and also whipping up, in record time, "emergency legislation" that would ban reproductive cloning and make it a criminal offense. Indeed, four days after the court decision--almost 10 months to the day after the House of Lords debate and vote--I found myself back in the chamber listening to many of the same arguments made by ...
