Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committees
The National Academies called for the establishment of Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight (ESCRO) Committees in its 2005 "Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research" to manage the ethical and legal concerns in human embryonic stem cell research. Because of the complexity and novelty of many of the issues involved in that research, the Guidelines committee believes that all research institutions engaged in human embryonic stem cell research should create and maintain these committees at the local level.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990
Research on human embryos can only be performed for specifically defined purposes that must be considered 'necessary and desirable' by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Research can only be performed on an embryo for a maximum of fourteen days or until the primitive streak appears. The genetic composition of any cell within the embryo cannot be altered during the embryo's formation for research.