The Australian government has issued the world’s first licence for the cloning of humans, reports the Reuters news agency. Sydney IVF has been given permission to clone human embryos in order to harvest stem cells. Because these cells have the ability to
Sydney IVF will get access to 7,200 ovules. But its work will be monitored by the National council of Australia for health and medical research. The Council’s chairman, John Findlay, has stressed that scientists only have the right to work with embryos. They are banned from passing to the next stage – inserting a cloned embryo into a womb. Australia removed the ban on cloning in 2006. Nevertheless, laws remain in place prohibiting human cloning for the purposes of reproduction.