Fury at 'illegal' human embryo experiments; Scientist granted licence

A Scottish scientist has been accused of illegally carrying out experiments on human embryos four years before the controversial research was approved by parliament.

The House of Lords did not approve medical research on human embryos until January 2001, but the authority that regulates such use has been forced to admit that Edinburgh University scientist Professor Austin Smith was given a licence in 1997.

MPs and peers have now raised questions in Westminster demanding to know why Smith was allowed to grow stem cells from embryos before legislation was passed. They claim the licence was illegally granted and that parliament and the public have been misled over secret research taking place in UK laboratories.

In a letter seen by the Sunday Herald, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) confirms that in 1997 Smith was granted a licence to "derive and characterise stem-cell lines from human embryos". The letter, from HFEA Policy Manager Dr Peter Mills, says: "I am informed that the 1997 licence related to a project with the following three practical objectives: to improve culture conditions for the development of embryos from which stem cells may be derived; to derive and characterise stem-cell lines from human embryos; and to optimise the culture conditions for the derivation and propagation of stem cells." The licence also stated that the ability to grow human cells for transplants might emerge as a by-product from the research.

Parliament and the public were led to believe the first licences to carry out such research were granted in March of this year. One of the licences was for Smith to use stem cells from spare IVF embryos to develop treatments for disorders such as Parkinson's disease. The other licence was granted to Guy's Hospital in London, where scientists will research the causes of infertility and miscarriage, as well as nerve disorders and heart disease.

The Sunday Herald has also learned that as far back as August 2000 scientists suspected Smith was already growing stem cells from human embryos. In correspondence seen by the Sunday Herald, one scientist says: "Austin is, I think, the first person to have a licence from the HFEA to derive human embryonic stem cells and I am sure he will be the first person in the UK to do so, if he has not already."

MP Bob Spink has tabled questions in parliament asking when the HFEA was given authority to issue licences to conduct such research. He also wants to know under what authority the HFEA gave a research licence to Smith in 1997.

The issue was also raised in the House of Lords last week by Lord Alton, who said: "This licence was granted four years in advance of parliament deciding on the issue. For the HFEA to have granted a licence and for Austin Smith to have applied was contemptuous and I think it was illegal."

In particular Alton criticised the HFEA for granting Smith a licence in 1997 to grow human cells for transplants "if this emerged as a by-product of his research". "You could do anything as a by- product of your research," said Alton. "It is like writing a blank cheque. I think this 1997 licence was written in a cynical way to permit anything that Smith wanted to do."

Josephine Quintavalle, director of CORE (Comment On Reproductive Ethics), said: "This is a blatant example either of the supreme ignorance or supreme arrogance of the HFEA. This was most clearly a licence for stem-cell research, issued to Dr Smith many years before parliament had voted on such research. If the licensing committee are incapable of working this out for themselves, they are clearly not up to the job in hand. It is impossible, however, to exclude that this is not a further example of the high-handedness of this quango."

Edinburgh University last night denied Smith had done anything wrong. A spokesman said: "We ensure all relevant work is authorised by the HFEA. We have no reason to believe it was any different in this case." The HFEA declined to comment.

Copyright 2002 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
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