Animal-human embryos get thumbs up.

British lawmakers voted against a bid to ban the creation of animal-human embryos for medical research recently, despite critics, including the Catholic Church, charging the move was unethical. The House of Commons was voting on the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Bill, potentially the biggest shake-up of laws affecting sensitive areas like stem cell research and abortion for nearly two decades. An amendment to outlaw the creation of hybrid embryos, which can ensure a more plentiful supply of stem cells for use in research into treating conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, was defeated by 336 to 176 votes.

Lawmakers also voted against a bid to ban saviour siblings'--children created as a close genetic match for a sick brother or sister so their genetic material can help treat them--by 342 to 163 votes. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who wrote an impassioned defence of both measures in a Sunday newspaper, and David Cameron, leader of the main opposition Conservatives, were among those opposed to the proposed bans. Brown's youngest son Fraser, aged nearly two, has cystic fibrosis, a disease which could one day benefit from embryo research. 'I believe that we owe it to ourselves and future generations to introduce these measures and in particular to give our unequivocal backing, within the right framework of rules and standards, to stem cell research,' Brown wrote in the Observer.