The High Court in London has rejected a bid for a Judicial Review as to whether licenses granted for research work on Animal Human Hybrids were illegal.The action had been brought by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC) and Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE) who wanted a Judicial Review over the actions by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
They claimed that the HFEA acted outside its powers as the licences were granted on January 9, 2008 before Parliament had debated and voted on the principles of the issue. Since then the law has been changed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 but is not yet in force.
However, the judge ruled their challenge was unarguable. Mrs Justice Dobbs ruled that the application was "totally without merit".
But Josephine Quintavalle, spokeswoman for Core and a named party in the action, said: "The way the regulator works is not fair. No one representing the interests of the embryo can sit on the committees that make decisions and once a decision has been reached we cannot appeal it."
Also for the Christian coalition, Andrea Minichiello Williams, said: "This is a sad day for justice in this country."
The HFEA welcomed the ruling, adding that it had acted correctly in interpreting the original law, which was intended, they said, to allow for an interpretation of the legislation to take into account scientific developments.
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(Source: RI)