British scientists could create the country’s first interspecies embryos by the end of the year, after the Government’s fertility watchdog yesterday approved the work in principle.

Two teams seeking to fuse human DNA with empty cow eggs to study diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are expected to be granted licences in November, now that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has agreed to look favourably on their applications.

The work to make cytoplasmic hybrid or “cybrid” embryos, which are 99.9 per cent human in genetic terms, should then begin immediately at King’s College London and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, unless it is blocked by a legal challenge.

A third application to create cybrids for studying motor neuron disease will also be submitted by a team from King’s and the University of Edinburgh, which had been waiting for the authority to decide on the issue in principle.

The positive verdict follows a public consultation, which on Monday reported 61 per cent approval for the creation of cybrid embryos to improve scientific understanding of disease. The research, however, is still opposed by some religious and antigenetic engineering groups, who are likely to challenge the HFEA’s legal authority to approve it.

The HFEA said in a statement that the issue fell within its remit, and that there was “no fundamental reason” for blocking the research. It insisted, however, that individual licence applications would be decided on their merits and there would be no blanket approval. “This is not a total green light for cytoplasmic hybrid research, but recognition that this area of research can, with caution and careful scrutiny, be permitted,” it said.

“Individual research teams should be able to undertake research projects involving the creation of cytoplasmic hybrid embryos if they can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of an HFEA licence committee, that their planned research project is both necessary and desirable. They must also meet the overall standards required by the HFEA for any embryo research.”

Stephen Minger, director of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at King’s, who leads one of the teams, said: “It is gratifying to see that the HFEA has listened to the broader scientific and bioethical community. We are also indebted to our fellow scientists, patient advocacy groups, the research charities, and the public who have vigorously supported our cause over the past year.”

The use of animal eggs, he said, was at present the only ethical way of producing cloned human embryos for use in research, “given the large numbers of eggs required to derive cloned human stem cell lines from individuals with incurable and highly progressive neurological disorders”.

Lyle Armstrong, of the Institute for Human Genetics in Newcastle, who leads the other group, said: “This is excellent news. It is a positive outcome not just for our work but for the progress of British science in general and we hope that this will lead to new technologies to benefit everyone.”

Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat science spokesman, who has led a campaign for interspecies embryos to be sanctioned, said: “This is good news for patients, the public and UK science. Our top-class researchers can now proceed with their applications to conduct this world-leading research.”

The ruling comes as scientists await the Government’s latest plans for legislation on interspecies embryos. Ministers have already backed down from a proposal to ban them altogether after pressure from scientists, and the draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill to be included in the Queen’s Speech exempts cybrids while outlawing true hybrids. This, however, was condemned as excessive in July by a scrutiny committee of MPs and peers, which recommended allowing all such research subject to licensing by the HFEA.

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