Scientists in France are optimistic about the future of stem cell research now that the government has removed a final legal hurdle to studies on human embryonic cells.

A bioethics law approved by the French National Assembly in August granted permission to scientists to carry out research on human embryonic stem cells for 5 years as long as research is directed towards the development of treatments for serious disease.

Last Tuesday (October 5), the French Minister for Health Philippe Douste-Blazy authorized the import of human embryonic cell stems. His decision paves the way for research on human embryos until they are 6 to 8 days old to take place in the country for the first time.

Douste-Blazy said that the "transitional measure had been put into place so that researchers can continue to do their work" until the new bioethics law comes into effect, probably in spring. "From now until then, researchers will be using embryos imported from abroad," he told Agence France Presse.

Marc Pechansky, a researcher at Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, told The Scientist that he was optimistic that the benefits of the latest move would flow quickly. "We have waited long enough, but now scientists in this field will be able to work in better conditions than before. There is a lot still to be discovered."

However, Pechansky said, the issue of funding was crucial. "There is no government funding for this new field of research at the moment, and a lot will depend on how much money the government decides to give." Using human embryonic stem cells would make a big difference to his own team's research on Huntington and Parkinson diseases, he said.

Michel Puceat from the French National Research Center's Macromolecular Biochemical Research Center in Montpellier said he was very pleased that the government took the latest step.

"We have been waiting for 3 years in France for this decision to be allowed to do research on human embryonic stem cells. It is critical for many labs that have been using adult stem cells until now. Of course, my lab plans to do research on human embryonic stem cells as well," Puceat said. "The reason it has taken so long for us to be allowed to do such research is political. The new minister Douste-Blazy has shown, however, that he understands the needs of scientists," he added.

The government decree also paves the way for a new agency for biomedicine to be set up in January 2005 to supervise issues connected with embryology and stem cells.

A recent survey of 95 medical institutions and fertility clinics estimated that there are 120,000 frozen embryos in France—accumulated over the past 15 to 20 years—and that 55% of these could be used for research purposes.

Under the new law, researchers can use unfertilized eggs, which have been discarded as surplus from in vitro fertilization clinics, provided that parents have given their permission. Creating embryos for research, however, continues to be banned.

Francois d'Aubert, deputy minister for research, said that human embryonic stem cell research was now being undertaken thoughout the world and that it "would not be realistic to prevent it."

Both Aubert and Douste-Blazy reiterated the continuing opposition of the French government to the cloning of human embryos to make babies, noting that the French law on bioethics had classified it as a "crime against humanity."