The Australian Government today tabled the Report of the Independent Review by the committee which reviewed the legislation governing the use of human embryos in Australian research. The report recommendations uphold the current framework which allows Australian researchers to use human embryos to create stem cells but only in licensed research projects.
Since 2002 Australian scientists have been able to apply for a licence to make stem cells from donated human embryos that are no longer required for infertility treatment and would otherwise be destroyed.
Under this regulatory framework, over fifty stem cell lines have been created and are being used by researchers in Australia and around the world to study how body cells grow and develop in the laboratory, as well as to gain a greater understanding of what is happening during certain diseases.
In 2006 the original legislation was amended to allow human embryos to be created for stem cell research using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT, also known as therapeutic cloning).
View the Report of the Independent Review on the NHMRC 2010 Legislative Review website.
For more details please see the media release below.
Downloads
Independent Committee Recommendations – No Change for Australian Stem Cell Science (205625)
Other Reports