SINGAPORE (AP) --The Singapore government will allow the cloning of human embryos for certain research projects giving the island state some of the world's most liberal guidelines for stem cell research.

Singapore hopes the guidelines will allow local firms to take a leading role in stem cell research that could lead to both profits and cures for disease.

Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said on Thursday the government has approved a set of recommendations made last month by a government-appointed Bioethics Advisory Committee.

Singapore has been pumping money into the biotech industry and aims to become a hub for biomedical research.

The new guidelines allow scientists to clone human embryos and extract stem cells from them, enabling research that could revolutionize the treatment of a wide range of conditions, from Parkinson's disease to diabetes. Scientists in Singapore will be allowed to keep the cloned embryos alive for up to 14 days to extract the stem cells.

While various animals have been cloned, and claims have been made about the reproductive cloning of human embryos, nobody has yet cloned a full human being.

Embyronic cells have been cloned in a process called therapeutic cloning, which is used to create new stem cells.

Opposition to research

Some religious groups in Singapore have opposed all embryonic stem cell research.

In a speech Wednesday at a local theological college, Tan said that local Catholic and Protestant groups had raised objections to stem cell research because they believe that the human embryo is a human being from conception.

Tan said that, under the new regulations, no-one with a conscientious objection "can be compelled to take part in research on human stem cells."

He also said a stringent framework would be put in place to ensure that the creation of the cloned embryos is limited to research projects with "strong scientific merit" or "potential medical benefit."

Australian connection

The approval of the scientist-friendly regulations was welcomed by ES Cell International, an Australian company on the forefront of stem cell research.

The regulations ensure that ES Cell "is able to continue to develop its stem cell technology in Singapore," said Robert Klupacs, ES Cell's chief executive officer.

Earlier this year, Klupacs recruited Alan Colman, a scientist who famously helped clone Dolly the Sheep in 1996, to establish the company's new Singapore facilities.

Under the regulations, Colman will be able to make new stem cell lines from spare human embryos from fertility clinics.

Singapore modeled much of its new stem cell guidelines on Britain's.

The United States bans public funding of some stem cell research. President George W. Bush opposes all human cloning and in August he restricted federally financed stem cell research to 64 existing stem cell lines taken from embryos discarded by fertility clinics.

Stem cells are unprogrammed master cells found in early stage embryos that can turn into nearly every cell type in the body. Cell-based treatments are expected to open a new chapter of medicine, raising the hope of prevention or cure for scores of diseases.

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