A controversy reborn

Lee Bo-yon told the BBC that the human embryo in the experiment was last seen dividing into four cells before the operation was aborted. He said, 8220;If implanted into a uterine wall of a carrier, we can assume that a human childwould be formed and that it would have the same gene characteristics as that of the donor.8221;

Lee Bo-yon said that Korean experiment had used the Honolulu technique8217; devised by Teruhiko Wakayama at the University of Hawaii, to produce 50 carbon-copy mice in July this year. The Hawaiian researchers used a chemical treatment to trick8217; the egg into acting like a newly fertilised egg and start growing. They extracted the nucleus from the ordinary cell, and injected it into the egg from which the genes had already been removed. This apparently tricked the egg into reacting as if it had been fertilised.

The Rosilin Institute in Scotland, creators of Dolly the cloned sheep, said the Korean claim was likely to contain 8220;strong elements of publicity-seeking.8221;

8220;It is inevitable given the public interest that these stories will circulate. It is unfortunate as any research should be published in scientific journals so it can be properly assessed,8221; said Dr Harry Griffin of the Rosilin Institute.

He said he hadnot previously heard of the Korean institute.

Dr Patrick Dixon, who deals with the consequences of human cloning in his book Futurewise, described the Korean claim as 8220;sensational.8221;

He called for an immediate suspension on all human cloning research until a ban on the birth of human clones was in place and there had been proper international public debate on the realistic medical benefits of human cloning medical experiments.

8220;British scientists have constantly told us that human cloning was some distance away and for that reason there was no great urgency to introduce a global ban on the birth of human clones,8221; Dixon said.

8220;However it seems to me that the first birth of human clones is only weeks away, as today8217;s news has shown.8221; Dixon also warned about the level of secrecy surrounding work on cloning. 8220;The fact is that when it comes to cloning, headlines are up to three years behind reality,8221; he said.

For instance, he said, the scientists who cloned Dolly failed to make theannouncement for seven months after her birth. The experiments leading to the embryo must have been on for years, he pointed out.

He drew attention to the case of American scientist Dr Jose Cibelli, who announced recently that three years ago he had cloned himself by combining one of his own cells with a cow8217;s egg. The cloned egg was eventually destroyed before implantation.

In Britain a great deal of controversy was raised recently over suggestions that the cloning of early-stage human embryos be allowed for medical research.

The main concern was that this would inevitably lead to human cloning and create human spare-part8217; factories. Scientists who support human cloning for medical research insist that if properly regulated, such research will not automatically lead to the birth of human clones.