Pro-life groups in Britain have criticised the decision to allow researchers to clone human embryos for medical research.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority issued its first licence for therapeutic cloning to the University of Newcastle.
The move will allow scientists there to duplicate early-stage embryos and extract stem cells, which can be used for radical new treatments.
The embryos will be destroyed before they are 14-days old.
Professor Alison Murdock, who will head the work, says clinical trials are some years away, but she hopes the research could eventually help people with serious illnesses, like Parkinson's and Altzeimer's.
Cloning to create copies of human babies remains outlawed in Britain.
