EDINBURGH — Professor Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, the famed “creator” of Dolly the sheep, has been given the green light to use and destroy human embryos in cloning experiments. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority gave Wilmut permission to study motor neurone disease. Research cloning has been permitted in the U.K. Since 2001, but this is just the second time the Authority has okayed research cloning.
Wilmut defends his application saying that it permits study into MND, which causes muscles to not work properly, in unprecedented detail. Wilmut hoped to allay the concerns of critics by vowing to destroy the clonal embryos after experimentation.
But that is exactly the problem. The Pro-Life Alliance reiterated human cloning is wrong and should be outlawed. Alliance spokesman Julia Millington said “The creation of cloned human embryos destined for experimentation and subsequent destruction is particularly abhorrent.”
Dr. John Shea, medical consultant to Canada’s Campaign Life Coalition, said Wilmut’s boast that the research will lead to enhanced understanding of MND is, “at best a guess, and is in any case, morally irrelevant. One must not use evil means even for a good purpose.”