A law allowing the cloning of human cells has cleared the final hurdle in South Korea, giving legal backing to controversial genetic research aimed at fighting incurable diseases, officials said Thursday. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the rules and guidelines for implementing the Bioethics and Biosafety Act were approved by South Korea's cabinet on Tuesday and would come into force next month.
"The act and its regulations and rules are aimed at clarifying what scientists can do and cannot do in genetic experiments," a ministry official said.
The act was passed by parliament in January this year but its implementation was shelved until the adoption of the rules and guidelines for its implementation.
However, a provision banning human cloning with up to 10 years in prison went into force immediately after the law was passed.
Under the new regulations and rules, scientists will be allowed to use fertilised eggs which are left over and are to be destroyed anyway at fertility clinics.
Cloned embryos produced by fusing together a human egg whose nucleus was replaced with a non-reproductive cell will also be allowed for research purposes.
The new rules also identify 18 incurable diseases including diabetes, Alzheimer's, cerebral palsy, damaged nerves of eyes and strokes, for which embryonic stem-cell research can be carried out.
A government committee of experts will also be set up to decide what kinds of research involving therapeutic cloning, or the development of tissues that can be used to treat diseases, should be allowed.
The law and its accompanying rules and guidelines give a legal support to South Korean bio-engineering experts, some of whom are renowned for their experiments using cloned human embryos.
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