Human embryo research in France

Abstract

The French law on bioethics, voted upon in July 1994, is going to be revised. This is the occasion for France to reconsider its position concerning research on human embryos, which is currently prohibited in France, as it is in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. However, such research is authorised in other European countries such as the UK, Spain, Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands. The establishment of human embryonic stem (ES) cells has reopened the debate in France because of their potential in human therapy. Indeed, ES cells, derived from early embryos (5-6 days old), preserve in vitro a pluripotent character, and they could provide an infinite source of different tissues that could be used in replacement therapy. This consists of ES cells differentiated in vitro into the desired tissues or cell types and grafted into the patient. The use of human ES cells in replacement therapy raises the major problem of graft rejection. One of the proposed solutions would be to carry out a 'therapeutic cloning' and to derive ES cells from the embryos obtained in this way. We do consider that, for the moment, the interest of the cloning study lies mainly in the understanding of the mechanisms responsible for reprogramming the nuclei. This research can be performed first on animal models. France is now thinking to allow human embryo research. We present here the French law proposed on human embryo research. French government is proposing to allow research exclusively on frozen supernumerary embryos, which no longer have any parental or adoption potential. Creation of human embryos for research purposes will still be prohibited. However, allowance of studies on human cloning in order to realise therapeutic cloning is mentioned in the proposal. We think that allowing research in humans on therapeutic cloning is premature and contradicts the prohibition of the creation of human embryos for research.