For the first time in Britain, researchers at Newcastle University have created human-animal hybrid embryos, amid an ongoing political row about a disputed embryo research bill which is due to be put to parliament next month.
The research, which was announced on Tuesday, has yet to be published or verified, with a spokesman for the university telling AFP that the institution "wouldn't claim it to be final at all". It was first presented at a lecture in Tel Aviv on March 25
The revelation comes as British MPs were locked in a fierce battle over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which would allow for the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for medical research.
Last month, the Labour Party said that party lawmakers with moral or ethical objections would be allowed to vote against parts of the proposed legislation when it comes before parliament next month.
The embryos were created by injecting DNA taken from human skin cells into eggs derived from cow ovaries with almost all their genetic material stripped away, and lasted for three days in a laboratory.
The university spokesman said the research would likely be published in "months, rather than weeks".
At present, researchers wanting to create such embryos have to apply for a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which currently regulates the practice in Britain, and hybrid embryos have to be destroyed after 14 days.
