Abstract: . . .  reproduction (50th World Health Assembly). Geneva: WHO, 1997. • Council of Europe. Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings . Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1997. • United Nations Economic and Social Council. Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights . Paris: UNESCO, 1997. THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENTIST July 2005 687 James King-Holmes/Science Photo Librar y Light micrograph of the transfer of nuclear material to an egg that has had its genetic material removed during the cloning of a sheep. Dr Sammy Lee CS ci FIBMS is a consultant embryologist and honorary lecturer in human embryology in the anatomy department at University College London. pp686-687 BMSJul05 17/6/05 10:17 AM Page 2  . . .
. . .  which regards it as “the deification of the scientist, and the indefinite postponement of death. It is the immortality project”. Concerns about Professor Wilmut’s proposals fuel the fear that Parliament's approval of therapeutic cloning has made the UK something of a moral pariah among nations. Is therapeutic cloning really dangerous science – unnecessary, unprincipled and immoral? Does it ruthlessly sacrifice future generations for the sake of extending the lives and comfort of spoiled people? The answer to all these questions is an emphatic no! Most people in the USA and Cloning today Nine years on from Dolly THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENTIST July 2005 686 ‘Human embryonic stem cells have the ability to develop into any adult human cell type’ A R T I C L E The subject of cloning , in its various guises, is a topic likely to produce markedly polarised opinion in any debate. In the wake of recent approval given to several therapeutic cloning projects, embryologist Sammy Lee provides a personal view on the essence of life. pp686-687 BMSJul05 17/6/05 10:17 AM Page 1 Page 2 the UK are in favour of research that . . .
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