The Health and Welfare Ministry plans to draft a bill on bioethics that will govern the use of human stem cells and the donation of human eggs for research.

In a bill to be submitted to the National Assembly in August, the government is seeking to ban the transplant of human somatic cells into animal eggs, limiting transplants to human eggs only. It will also prohibit egg donations for research purposes except for those donated by sterile women or terminally ill patients to research their specific ailments.

In addition, under the proposed bill, embryos created from donated eggs or sperm will only be made available for research only when the donor, the patient and his or her spouse give consent.

Researchers and genetic testing agencies that violate the rules can be ordered to close their businesses or have their licenses revoked.