Cambridgeshire-based computer consultants Peter Blackburn, 31, and his wife Ildiko, 29, who have suffered fertility problems, tell BBC One's Panorama programme that they are thinking of cloning.

Mr Blackburn said: "Whether or not technology could produce a child identical to my wife or genetically identical to me, that's not really the issue. It is a child.

"A cloned son or daughter would be part of a family, it would not be treated any differently and it would be loved."

Human eggs cloned

Fertility experts from the Kyunghee University Hospital in Seoul, South Korea, tell the programme they have already successfully cloned spare eggs from patients undergoing fertility treatment.

Dr Lee Bo-Yon said the patients were told that the eggs were being used for "scientific research". He told Panorama: "I didn't start the experiment out of playful curiosity.

"I think this technique will help infertile patients a great deal and eventually will benefit many people. Many of the concerns are exaggerated out of the misunderstanding of human cloning."

Dr Ian Wilmutt, who led the team which cloned Dolly the sheep, tells the programme he remains opposed to human cloning because it is not "fair" on the child produced.