Human Cloning on the Horizon
Guardian Newspaper (London) Tuesday December 8, 1998

Storms of protest are likely to break today over the publication of a
report which will allow scientists to take the first tentative steps down
the road of human cloning, in the name of curing intractable diseases.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and the Human
Genetics Advisory Commission (HGAC) have been consulting on the ethics of
cloning since January. Today they publish their conclusions, firmly
opposing the cloning of a human child in place of the normal means of
reproduction, but leaving the door open for cloning human material for
therapeutic purposes.

Scientists and ethicists have been pondering the possibilities with
increased urgency ever since the creation of Dolly, the cloned sheep. Last
month, an American biotechnology company claimed to have made a cow-human
embryo three years ago by introducing the nucleus of a human cell into a
cow egg. The embryo, they said, lived for several days.

The HFEA/HGAC wants to anticipate what may be possible in 10 years time so
that the debate will be ahead of the technology. The report proposes
leaving the door open, but will insist that there will be many hurdles to
cross for scientists who apply to the authority for permission to
experiment in this area.

It anticipates being asked to permit the cloning of an embryo of perhaps
eight to 10 days growth. The procedure would be to remove a cell from the
skin of a human being and fuse its nucleus into a human egg from which the
nucleus has been removed. The embryo would develop in a test tube to the
point where a line of stem cells - the basic cells which have the
potential to become any part of the human body, whether brain, kidney or
leg - have developed. The material could then be frozen and stored for
later use.

Medical opinion is in favour of proceeding with cloning in the hope of
helping the sufferers of diseases such as Parkinson's.

Sir Colin Campbell, chairman of the HGAC, said: "We believe it would not
be right at this stage to rule out limited research using such techniques,
which could be of great benefit to seriously ill people."

The greatest advantage to cloned material is that it will not be rejected
by the body from which the original cell was taken. Some scientists in the
forefront of the field talk of the potential for developing "spare body
parts" - the possibility of cells being removed from babies at birth, to
be cloned, developed into stem cells and then stored against the day when
needed for a replacement organ, such as a kidney or a heart.

The anti-cloning lobby is appalled that the HFEA will not slam the door on
further experimentation. Patrick Dixon, a leading anti-cloning campaigner,
said the HFEA's report would be "a Christmas present for cloners around
the world".

If British scientists develop the technology to clone an embryo for
therapeutic uses, they will also unveil the secrets of creating new life,
he argues.

"Human clones will be created in British labs," Dr Dixon predicted, and
would-be cloners of new human beings, such as Richard Seed in the United
States, would be able to profit from the research. "It has never been more
urgent to establish a ban on reproductive human cloning," he said.

He and the pro-Life lobby are also concerned that embryos will be created
solely to be destroyed.

But anything that might be allowed by the HFEA in the name of research is
allowed in most other countries. Britain is the most highly regulated
nation in the world. In the United States, President Clinton's demands for
a cloning ban were blocked by Congress.

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