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SYDNEY - Legislation overturning a ban on therapeutic cloning in New South Wales has been described as "compassionate" by the state's science minister.
In a conscience vote in the Legislative Council late last night, MPs voted 27-13 in favour of the bill to allow stem cell research, also known as Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.
Science Minister Verity Firth said politicians had learnt about the issues involved and had voted with their conscience to approve the legislation.
She said the legislation was about providing hope to the hundreds of thousands of Australians living with debilitating diseases for which there was no cure.
"This isn't a simple debate. It's always been a debate that's been tied up in the ethics and morality of what you should and should not do in scientific research," she told ABC Radio today.
"I believe they exercised their conscience in a way that's allowed a compassionate and forward thinking bill to pass through the upper house.
"I'm very, very pleased."
Firth said the one abstainer from the vote, Attorney-General John Hatzistergos, showed how complicated the stem cell issue was.
- AAP
