Dolly scientist backs human cloning

Scientists in South Korea cloned 30 human embryos

The scientist who led the team which created Dolly the sheep has sparked anger by voicing his support for human cloning under certain circumstances.

Writing in the New Scientist magazine, Professor Ian Wilmut said that the "great benefits" made it "immoral" not to carry out therapeutic cloning.

He said the technique could help eradicate inherited disorders.

But the Church of Scotland described his comments as "very naive" and "highly irresponsible".

Last week South Korean scientists said they had cloned 30 human embryos to obtain cells they hope could one day be used to treat disease.

Professor Wilmut, of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, said he remained "implacably opposed" to reproductive cloning.

However, he said: "I do envisage that producing cloned babies would be desirable under certain circumstances, such as preventing genetic disease."

He advocated a complex procedure for couples who did not want to pass a genetic disease on to their children.

Professor Wilmut suggested that the cloned baby could be derived from genetically corrected cells which had been modified from an IVF embryo.

We can only say that this suggestion from the Roslin scientist is highly irresponsible, and should not have been made without recourse to proper ethical advice Dr Donald Bruce Church of Scotland

"The resulting embryo would be the identical twin of the original embryo, but with the diseased gene corrected in every one of its cells," he wrote.

"This embryo could then be implanted in its mother's womb to develop into a baby.

"Although such a child would be a human clone, it would be a clone of a new individual, not a clone of one of its parents.

"This form of cloning would not create the same ethical and social problems as reproductive cloning."

And he hit back at people who claimed experimenting with embryos to carry out therapeutic cloning was immoral.

Dolly the sheep was created by a team at the Roslin Institute

"I believe the opposite. Cloning promises such great benefits that it would be immoral not to do it," he said.

Dr Donald Bruce of the Church of Scotland said Professor Wilmut had until now been a clear opponent of reproductive human cloning - a stance which it supported.

"It is already highly controversial to advocate the use of cloned human embryos in research, but I am shocked at the naiveté of the suggestion to clone babies in the present climate of world opinion," said the director of the Kirk's society, religion and technology project.

"It would be illegal in many countries, including the UK, and runs contrary to world wide opinion on both the ethics and the risks.

"Reluctantly we can only say that this suggestion from the Roslin scientist is highly irresponsible, and should not have been made without recourse to proper ethical advice."

The Kirk called for a global ban on reproductive human cloning back in May 1997.

"The sooner this is now done the better," said Dr Bruce.