First UK cloned human embryo: Your views

UK scientists have successfully cloned the country's first human embryo as part of a stem cell research programme.

A team from Newcastle University ultimately aims to make cloned embryos from which stem cells can be harvested.

It is hoped that the stem cells can be used to replace ones that have failed in patients with diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's.

A team of South Korean scientists also announced that they have made stem cells genetically tailored to match individual patients for the first time.

What is your reaction to the creation of the first human embryo in this country? Do you think it is an important medical breakthrough or is it unethical to carry out this type of research? Send us your comments.

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The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:

Human cloning is essentially inevitable, and we would do well to embrace its great prospects Robert Yang, California, USA

While some legislatures may outlaw human cloning, there will always be others that won't. These nations will become the new leaders of modern medical science, forging ahead with new advanced technologies. The "ethics debate" is almost rendered irrelevant in this respect; rather, it is a question of world power in the sciences. Thus, human cloning is essentially inevitable, and we would do well to embrace its great prospects.
Robert Yang, California, USA

Cloning embryos to produce stem cells is a smoke screen. Scientists are well aware that stem cells can be just as effectively reproduced by other methods without the need to produce embryos. This is blind arrogance and ultimately man playing God. We have seen recently that politicians are prepared to lie to achieve their ultimate goal. To what ends will these techniques be used for in the future? Can we really trust the state? This has the 'Brave New World' finger prints all over it.
Mark Malik, Warsaw, Poland

The science isn't what worries me. It's that we don't have the social mechanisms to determine how this and other cutting-edge technologies can best be regulated. The field is wide open for profiteers, ego-trippers, fraudsters and general basket cases. This will end in tears.
Richard Bradshaw, Stokesley, N Yorkshire, England

David Appleton is wrong. A ball of cells can not become a human being without a host - the mother.
Paul Weaver, Twyford, Berks

It's disgusting, just creating and destroying human beings in an early stage of life. We should have more respect.
Nicky, London, UK

It just needs the public to be better educated about these techniques before they will accept them Rob, York, England

Hopefully this heralds a new era in medical science. It just needs the public to be better educated about these techniques before they will accept them. I for one have no qualms about any ethical issues, scientists have been responsible in the past, and I am sure cloned 'organ banks' will never be utilised. As for the eggs being potential lives, they weren't fertilised before they were taken from the women, so clearly they were just going to released during her period, and never become a life.
Rob, York, England

When a sperm cell breaks through and fuses to an egg cell life has begun. This ball of cells can, if left alone, become a fully fledged human being. Scientists are blinded by ambition to cure the next disease, they've betrayed life itself and God in whose image it was created.
David Appleton, Staines, UK

Excellent research, a natural progression, the objections are the same as always when scientific progress takes another step forward. If the objectors had their way we would still not have organ transplants, science has to experiment to advance and I am positive that even the objectors will grab the eventual medical benefits without question.
Arthur, Derby, UK

Scientifically there is no prospect of curing Parkinson's, simply slowing it down. Many of us who have had loved ones with Parkinson's would not thank science for creating more years of suffering by manipulating human life at the other end. This is ghoulishness driven by potential medical business profits.
Jon, Totteridge, England

We have always striven to conquer nature, and each time life has become better Joseph, Lincoln, England

This is a very important step forward for medicine, and has the potential to cure many illnesses that are today incurable. I only hope that no church or UN resolution tries to impose its views on us and stop our research. I personally am quite relaxed at this development, and do not think it is 'playing god'. We have always striven to conquer nature, and each time life has become better.
Joseph, Lincoln, England

We need to be careful. While this can be used to help others, the potential for abuse also exists.
Chris, Glasgow, Scotland

Knowledge is good and it has helped us improve our lives and society. However, everything that can be done should not just be done simply because the knowledge of it exists. While cloning could help cure sicknesses which were thought incurable, it could also raise moral and social issues. If a human being can be duplicated (cloned) it could increase the world's problem of security and terrorism.
Anthony Esenwa, Lagos, Nigeria

This technology can save lives. There should be no debate. The more research done, the more we can understand and the better the techniques become. The ethical debate is that you would be taking a life. Life is defined partially as sentience. A few cells are not sentient.
Brian Simpson, Aberdeen

I am proud that the UK is one of the countries that are leading the way in this area of science and I'd love to see the fruition of such research being made to cure health problems. I'd much rather see research being done open and clearly for understanding and improving life. With open scientific experiments and the scientific debates that goes with this in this country means I can follow the progress with hope that people close to me, and I, would benefit and improve life quality for them and me.
Kyle Sterry, Newcastle, UK

How dare we carve up life at its earliest stages in the name of saving life at its later stages Michael Williams, Liverpool

Mary Shelley's prophetic novel Frankenstein has finally become a reality. Mankind's misguided attempts at creating a better world are going to end in disaster. How dare we carve up life at its earliest stages in the name of saving life at its later stages. The powerful are manipulating the weakest. Its scary.
Michael Williams, Liverpool

There's no way of stopping fundamental research. So we might as well come to terms with it - and legislate, if necessary, as to ethical use.
David Ball, Wokingham, UK

Whilst cloning is still legal, there will always be scientists who will investigate its therapeutic potential. In this case however, an unfertilised ovum was used - this ovum was never destined to become an embryo, nor could it have become one after being injected with genetic material. I wish these pro-life activists would at least try and understand the science before damaging their credibility with flawed claims of immorality.
Adam, Philadelphia, USA

The beginning of the end. What with insurance companies eager to get their hands on the ID card data, which will show you medical history, anybody benefiting from this treatment and "non perfect" health history will find themselves un-insurable.
Robert Bahrani, London, UK

A fantastic development. Quite why people seem to think of cloning as such a taboo subject is entirely beyond me - nobody denies that care is required to ensure that there are no unpleasant complications, but if it can save lives then I welcome it whole-heartedly. Let the religious objectors refrain from ever taking advantage of these new developments, if they're so stridently opposed, but leave rational people alone.
Paul Christopher, Exeter, UK

Man should stop interfering with things that he pretends to understand Chris, Telford, UK

If the stem cells derived from this cloning have the same problems as dolly the sheep's cells, then they will be subject to premature aging and all kinds of other malfunctions. Won't this make them useless anyway. Man should stop interfering with things that he pretends to understand, but doesn't really have a clue about. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
Chris, Telford, UK

The benefits of stem cell research far outweigh the disadvantages. Opponents of this technology would soon have different thoughts when new treatments are available that may save their, or someone close, life.
Stewart, Toronto, Canada

Utterly abhorrent. I think it is absurd that we are fiddling with humanity in this way when we have not yet exhausted (or even begun to use in some cases) existing ethical alternatives.
Patrick Leahy, Cambridge, UK

I have a hard time with campaigners against human embryo cloning who argue that no potential human life should be destroyed. Do they have any qualms about the hundreds of eggs that will be released and lost naturally during a woman's lifetime? If stem cell research can be developed and used to save people's lives I am all in favour of it. Shouldn't we be thinking about the real lives rather than the potential ones?
Julia, Oxford

Well done an excellent example of British science. Congratulations to Professor Murdock and his team.
Chris, Bristol, UK

If history is anything to go by then this will go much further than just the cloning of embryos and should worry every one of us.
Graham Smith, London, UK

This really seems so unethical to me. Isn't it amazing that when a woman is pregnant she calls it a baby but scientists can call it an embryo and do what they like. Where does it stop? Do we continue until we have a fully cloned human and is it then bred just for spare parts? Perhaps we should stop here.
Lyn, Worthing, Sussex