Its an embryo, get over it!

How many ants do you tread on walking down the garden path?!

Jo, London, UK

I will completely lose faith in human nature if once again the Catholics are allowed to hold up progress.

Norman West, Truro, uk

I say bring it on.

We could create all kinds of new humans, I personally would love to have had a set of wings - or be able to breathe underwater.

Human animal hybrids are the way to go.

Enough of this medieval religious nonsense.

James, London,

I think The Brown Government is on the wrong track on this issue. Most people would rather die than have treatments with animal tissue.

louise, London, uk

A note to the ill educated, ill informed or simply criminally ignorant posters here. If you do not want the treatments do not have them.

To call 'abomination', claim moral superiority or compare this with Nazi experimentations is intellectual dishonesty of the highest caliber.

Tim, Reading, Berks

"competitors will go full steam ahead " Mike, Plymouth. Is this not a bit like saying that Nazi "experiments" with living beings was okay because if they hadn't done it, others would? Many were brought up to believe that two wrongs don't make a right!!

C.B.Ross, Motherwell,, Lanarkshire

Steve Tea: It's pretty astonishing to learn that the Nazis and Japanese were mixing animal and human DNA in WWII, fully eight years before Watson and Crick had even defined the structure of DNA.

John, Newcastle,

To those trumpeting the use of adult and umbilical cord stem cells, these cells are much more difficult to isolate and extract, and are already showing significant limitations.

Embryonic stem cells may not have these limitations, but we won't know until we perform the experiments.

John, Newcastle,

Even when, rarely as here, Gordon Brown is on approximately the right track, his leadership fails him in making anything useful come of it.

James E. Petts, Burnham, England

Gordon Brown and EviLabour and their monsterous plans.
The EviLabour appointed C of E puppet Rowan Williams says nothing about it.
Only the Catholic leaders do kick up fuss, and good for them.
They and many others see it for the abomination that it is, and rightfully oppose it.
Fight on people!!.

Sean Hamerton, York., England.

For the ill-informed and ill-educated who find this a moral dilemma, I suggest you do as the Jehovah's Witnesses do - refuse treatment developed from research you disagree with. Don't have the arrogance to deny the rest of us treatment becasue we hold different views.

Roger, Soutch Coast, UK

Anyone who believes there is an inherent differenece between Human and Animal should have seen my kids this Monday morning!
Andrew Lansley should be ashamed of his pandering to religious bullies.

Ian Hill, Stanmore, England

you might as easily say that the monstrous experiments of the Nazis "Could" save lives

peter , devizes, wessex

Once again here come the people who have no understanding of the science involved claiming that those with crippling diseases shouldn't get treatment because of some very outdated (medival) moral viewpoints. If you don't want treatment thats fine but stopping others from reciving it is murder.

Peter, Bath,

Yet again no mention that adult stem cells and umbilical cord stem cell research is further ahead and doesn't involve any destruction of embryos. Why not? The Government have totally misled Parliament on this by implying there is no other way forward - see www.stemcellresearch.org

Fiona, London, UK

Research groups say that (oldies) are crying out for embryo-derived treatments. At 65, after 8 years with ME/CFS and nearing the Alzheimer's etc zone, I do not want anyone to experiment with embryos on my behalf. Human life is a rare gift to be treated with respect, not a medical research input.

Faustino, Brisbane, Australia

ah, the old "if we don't do it, someone else will" excuse...

paulc, gloucester,

Why should it be down to IVF clinics to rule on the need for a father? I am well aware that children need positive male role models, this issue can be left to the responsible would-be parents who are seeking treatment. I bet we give it a lot more thought than thousands of pregnant teenagers

Sophie, Liverpool,

It is perverse to mix animals with human DNA. This is the same that tricks the Japanese and Nazi scientist got up to in the 2nd world war. Labour have lost the moral high-ground again!

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

The comment by Des of Edinburgh has to be corrected. There are practically no British scientists applying to experiment on true human animal hybrids as opposed to animal eggs with a human nucleus inserted (cybrids) and worldwide such research is massively restricted.

john Pugh, Southport, UK

There is something morally wrong with it.

Richard, London,

GB is such a wet - he makes the wets of Maggie T's gov't look like Right Wing zealots !!!!

Ian Payne, WALSALL,

Whether or not our lot go whole hog, halfway or not at all for this bill and all its advantages in the search to remedy all of mans' ills. The fact remains overseas competitors will go full steam ahead in their research programmes irrespective and we will be left playing catch up as usual.

Mike O' Connor, Plymouth, uk

If the Conservatives succeed in having certain hybrid embryos outlawed, there would be massive implications for the UK science sector. Significant progress in hybrid embryo research has been made abroad, and Andrew Lansley's amendment could result in academics and students going elsewhere.

Des, Edinburgh,

A: Agree: Abortion limit should be reduced - ask any mother e.g. "how old was the fetus before you knew it was alive?" (weeks?... days?)
B: The lack of a father figure in families as children grow up is a major cause of 'problem youth'
C: Sex with animals? Very wrong. Embryos -> fetus see A:above!

P Fisher, Birmingham, UK

Thnaks for the balanced article.

Greg Lorriman, Letherhead, UK