Dolly firm put woman's gene into sheep

The ethics of genetics: special report
by Antony Barnett, public affairs editor
Sunday July 2, 2000

The British firm that cloned Dolly the sheep has inserted the DNA of a
Danish woman into thousands of New Zealand sheep without her knowledge.

PPL Therapeutics is refusing to disclose her name, but it has admitted
the DNA probably came from a blood sample she gave in a clinic in the
Eighties when she was 22. She has never been told what her DNA has been used for.

The company hopes to make profits by extracting a protein from the
genetically modified sheep's milk which it claims might help cure
diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

But the disclosure that a firm could use the woman's DNA without her
knowledge, in the week that the human genome was unravelled, has led to
calls for tighter controls on the biotech industry.

Dr Sue Mayer, director of GeneWatch, said: 'People give blood and organs
thinking they will be shared freely with other people. They are given as
a gift. Certainly most donors do not think their DNA will be patented,
inserted into animals or bacteria and used to boost the profits of some
company. Many people would find this morally objectionable.'

The Department of Health has admitted that DNA taken from blood or
tissue banks in Britain can also be used by universities and biotech companies
for genetic experiments as long as the donor is unidentified.