Cloning raises legal, ethical debate for biotechnicians

17 Jun 2002

President Clinton has asked an expert bioethics panel to review legal and ethical ramifications of cloning, spurred by reports of a cloned sheep in Scotland. Clinton asked the National Bioethics Advisory Panel, which was appointed last year, to examine the issue of cloning with special regard to any applications with humans.

Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh reported that he had used the cell of an adult sheep to create a baby clone.The news plunged medical ethicists head-long into a disturbing debate about duplicating human beings that many experts thought they could postpone indefinitely. In the United States it is illegal to use federal research money for most human embryo research, but there are scant restrictions on privately-funded science. The biotechnology industry has called for a clear legal ban on human cloning. The technology is still clumsy and too imperfect for widespread use, and Wilmut has stressed he intends it to be used on animals, not people.