Limited scientific research on somatic cell nuclear transfers for possible cures of fatal diseases will be permitted following a revision of the relevant law.
The law will prescribe the bounds of the research, as well as ban human ova trading.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday that the revised Bioethics Law will take effect in October.
In Korea, there have not been any applications for studies on embryo cloning using somatic cells since the government started revising the law in conjunction with the research fabrication scandal by disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk.
Early 2006, former Seoul National University professor Hwang shocked the nation and the world when it was found that his much-praised study on human stem cell cloning was based on cooked data.
According to the revision, research on somatic cell nuclear transfer is permitted once approved by the health and welfare minister, and only for the purpose of seeking to cure incurable diseases.
The law will also put a restriction on the types of ova that can be used for the embryo cloning study _ ova prepared for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment which become surplus following pregnancy, and immature and abnormal ova prepared for IVF.
Human cloning by implanting a somatic cell-cloned embryo in the uterine wall will be banned. Transferring the somatic cell nucleus of animals to enucleated human ovum will also be prohibited.
Selling or purchasing ova is also banned.
The revised law will only allow embryo-cloning institutes to commence research after the authority approves their research plans.
``With detailed standards for somatic cell nuclear transfer, we expect the law to promote ethics and safety of bio-science,'' a ministry official said.
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