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Permission for human cloning, given to a group of Scottish scientists by mistake, may be revoked by the European Commission.
The patent, once approved, could not just be withdrawn  |
It is unusual in the dry, legal world of patent applications for a single phrase to cause such trouble. When the research patent for transgenic stem cells was issued in December, the scientists could not have anticipated the uproar that would follow.
The application, granted by the European Patent Office in Munich, referred to preparing a transgenic animal. But it did not specifically exclude humans - so leaving the door open for human cloning.
The German Government objected. Questions were asked in the European Parliament. But the patent, once approved, could not simply be withdrawn.
 The loophole could still open the way for human clones
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The Commissioner for the Single Market, Frits Bolkestein, said there had been a genuine mistake. Under normal rules, changes to the patent would not have been possible before the end of the year. In this case, he said, there would be an accelerated procedure.
"It seems clear to everyone involved that this patent should not have been granted in the form it was," he said in a statement.
Earlier a Scottish Euro MP told the parliament his countrymen had never had any intention of cloning human beings.
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