The Associated Press, "Britain Grants 'Dolly' Scientist Cloning License" (2005)

"THE NEW YORK TIMES"
February 9, 2005

Britain Grants 'Dolly' Scientist Cloning License
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON, Feb. 8 - The British government gave the scientist whose team cloned Dolly the sheep a license on Tuesday to clone human embryos for research.

Dr. Ian Wilmut, who led the Dolly team at the Roslin Institute in Scotland in 1996, and Dr. Christopher Shaw, a motor neuron expert of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, plan to clone embyros to study how nerve cells go awry to cause motor neuron diseases. The experiments do not involve creating cloned babies.

This is the second license approved by Britain, which became the first country to legalize research cloning in 2001. It granted the first in August to a team that hopes to use cloning to create insulin-producing cells that could be transplanted into diabetics.

Dr. Brian Dickie, director of research at the Motor Neuron Disease Association, based in London, said the approval, by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, meant "we are a step closer to medical research that has the potential to revolutionize the future treatment of neuron disease," a group of related incurable muscle-wasting conditions that includes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

The studies, which would inject part of the nucleus of a skin cell from an adult with motor neuron disease into a human egg to grow stem cells, are expected to help in developing future treatments. The cells would not be used to correct the disease.

Opponents of cloning criticized the decision to grant the license, saying that cloning is dangerous, undesirable and unnecessary.

The status of human cloning varies widely around the world, and most countries have no laws or regulation in place. It is prohibited in Switzerland and Italy, while Belgium, Singapore and Japan have regulations allowing it for medical research.

Australia has a moratorium on the technique until lawmakers decide what to do. In the United States, federal money cannot be used for cloning projects, but there are no restrictions on privately financed research.

The United Nations is deadlocked over the issue and is scheduled to take it up again this month.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company