Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: An Australian Perspective

Abstract

A conscience vote of individual parliamentarians in the Australian government last month regarding amendments to current legislation regulating human embryonic stem cell research yielded a surprising outcome. Despite opposition by the Australian Prime Minister, the Senate and House of Representatives voted to adopt the recommendations of the Lockhart Review and approve human somatic cell nuclear transfer, thus providing a consistent national policy for all researchers in Australia. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.