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Law tightened on cloning and human cell lines

The powers of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act 1996 has been extended to cover emerging technologies such as the regeneration of organisms from tissue samples of animals and plants not already present in New Zealand and the use of human cell lines and tissues in biomedical research.

When the Act was drawn up in the 1990s, it was not possible to regenerate animals and plants from tissue samples and so this sort of research was not included in the new organisms part of the Act. As yet, no such work is going on in New Zealand, but the proposed change anticipates the possibility that new organisms to New Zealand could be created in this way.

The amendments do not stop researchers using tissue regeneration for animals and plants already in New Zealand such as native species or farm animals.

The changes also bring under the Act the genetic modification of human cells and tissues for research in the laboratory.

However, the amended Act does not include the cloning of humans or the germ-line genetic modification for human reproductive purposes. These will be covered by the Human Assisted Reproductive Technologies Bill.

Last updated: 17 September 2007