Swiss voters endorsed restrictive legislation on stem cell research today that forbids the cloning of human embryos and put Switzerland on a par with some other continental European countries.
With all Swiss regions reporting, 66.4 per cent of those voting had approved measures that allow scientists to extract stem cells from unwanted embryos to use in research into diseases, as in the Netherlands and Spain.
But the rules, which were approved in one of the country's regular referendums, are not as liberal as those in Britain or Belgium, where cloning to extract cells is allowed.
Supporters say stem cell research offers the chance to better understand conditions such as Parkinsons', Alzheimers' or diabetes and so come closer to developing treatments.
"It's a very restrictive law but it allows us to continue our work," said Yvan Arsenijevic, a scientist specialised in adult stem cells at the Jules Gonin hospital in the Swiss city of Lausanne.
Opponents, including Christian doctors and the Greens, want to ban research on human cells arguing that it involves taking human lives as the embryos are eventually destroyed.
Stem cells from embryos are more flexible than those found in adults and researchers hope to use them to generate replacement cells and tissues. While US lawmakers grapple with national legislation, EU countries have adopted differing laws, against which Switzerland's proposals appear relatively conservative.
England and Belgium both grant licences to clone human embryos as a source of the cells.
The Netherlands, France, Denmark and Spain allow research on embryos left from over artificial reproduction. Germany and Austria allow research only on imported cells.
Supporters in Switzerland, home to drugmakers Novartis and Roche, said it would be a long time before stem cell techniques would be applied in pharmaceutical laboratories but said the industry would benefit indirectly as universities and research institutes pursue their work.