New British egg donation rules expected

British women will soon be allowed to donate eggs for cloning experiments that promise new therapies for diseases, The Times of London reported Tuesday.

The Times said the revised rules, expected to be approved Wednesday, will be ethically controversial since egg donation, which is critical to cloning studies, exposes women to potential medical complications such as kidney damage or death.

Current British laws allow only women undergoing in vitro fertilization or other gynecological operations to donate eggs for research, the newspaper reported.

The revised regulations are designed to accelerate the search for treatments for such diseases as diabetes and Parkinson's.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International