A science ministry panel preparing guidelines for research on the cloning of human embryos has agreed to ban egg donations by female researchers and their female relatives.

Japan banned human cloning in 2001, but lets researchers use human embryos not produced by cloning.

In July 2004, the government's top science council approved policy recommendations that would let researchers produce and use cloned human embryos, but only for basic research. Cloning, however, won't be allowed for treating human patients.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry agreed Monday to ban female members of research teams and female relatives of the researchers from donating eggs needed for producing embryos, said Yasuhiko Ishii of the ministry's Life Science Division.

Ishii said research on human cloning should be conducted independently of female researchers involved in such research.

The 12-member panel also agreed to ban egg donation by women employed at research institutions that produce or use embryos and at medical institutions that provide eggs, Ishii said.

Mothers, sisters and wives of employees involved in research or employed at the medical institutions will also be banned from donating eggs, he said.

In South Korea, disgraced cloning researcher Hwang Woo Suk is now under investigation for fraudulent claims of stem cell breakthroughs.

Hwang has admitted giving permission to a female subordinate to donate her own eggs for the research and collected letters from other researchers pledging to donate eggs -- an act widely considered unethical because it could involve coercion.