Trying for compromise on embryos

The French Parliament last week overwhelmingly voted 325-21 in favor of a bill supporting research on human embryonic stem cells, but prohibiting therapeutic as well as reproductive cloning. However, as the legislature dissolves on Feb. 22 ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections, turning the bill into law will only be possible in the fall, when the next Parliament has assembled and passed the bill to the French Constitutional Council. And it is unclear whether the new Parliament will adopt or change the bill in regard to therapeutic cloning.

The bill proposes to lift a 1994 ban on embryo research. Under its provisions, scientists would be allowed to obtain stem cells from frozen embryos left over from in vitro fertilization. ...