Justice Jeremy Sullivan said the case will not come to court before June. While acknowledging government plans to introduce laws banning human reproductive cloning, ProLife said it feared politicians have failed to appreciate the urgency of the situation. Cloned embryos would be made by replacing the nucleus of an egg with that of a cell taken from a person's body. The embryo would be genetically identical to the person whose cell was inserted in the egg. Scientists believe that by creating cloned embryos from patients, they will be able to extract stem cells that are perfectly matched for transplant.
Stem cells are the master cells found in embryos that give rise to all other cells in the body.
Doctors hope they will be able to cure or treat hundreds of diseases by directing stem cells to develop into any type of tissue needed for transplant. Extracting stem cells involves destroying the embryo. Meanwhile, U.S. President Bush said on Friday that federal money should not pay for research on fetal tissue or stem cells derived from abortions. Bush had indicated his opposition to such research during the presidential campaign, but the remarks Friday were his first on the topic since taking over the White House a week ago. Stem cells can come from aborted fetuses or from embryos left over from fertility clinics.