‘The decision to give up on human cloning by the best known mammalian cloner in the world, Prof Ian Wilmut, is good news for us all and very good news for the integrity of science,’ said Josephine Quintavalle from Comment on Reproductive Ethics.

‘For years now the evidence has been mounting that cloning is a very difficult to achieve safely and successfully, and that the number of human eggs required is so high as to represent an insuperable hurdle in itself.

‘The work of Prof Yamanaka, developing patient-specific stem cells without the use of embryos, is the stream-lined way forward and it is great credit to the professionalism of Wilmut that he is able to acknowledge the benefits of this route forward. To be willing to change one’s mind in science is a sign of great integrity and real intelligence and we congratulate Prof Wilmut for his stance.

‘If full human cloning can be rejected on scientific grounds, what to make of some of the nonsense going before the House of Lords as we speak? A debate this Monday on the new Human Fertilisation & Embryology Bill will focus on all manner of interspecies embryos, created from animal and human tissue, and using the cloning processes. None of this research is necessary or desirable.

‘As a country we must follow the Wilmut lead and put behind us all meddling with human cloning and animal/human hybridisation. There are other ways to cure patients, and they are not only safer and simpler, but they are also ethically acceptable to us all.’

See:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/earth/2007/11/16/scidolly116.xml

Forward Planning Notice:

Monday 19th, 2007
Parliament Square 2-3.30 pm Lobby against animal human hybrids