Dolly the sheep creator OK'd to clone human embryos

The scientist who created Dolly the sheep has been given a licence to clone human embryos for medical research.

Professor Ian Wilmut, who led the team behind the world's first cloned mammal at Edinburgh's Roslin Institute in 1996, plans to obtain stem cells for research into motor neuron disease.

The disease is known in Canada and in the United States as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Britain's cloning watchdog, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, approved the licence on Tuesday to Wilmut and Dr. Christopher Shaw from King's College London.

It's the second such licence granted since Britain became the first country to legalize research cloning in 2001.

• FROM AUG. 11, 2004: Britain OKs human embryo clones for research

The researchers who will use nuclear cell replacement, the same technique used to create Dolly do not plan to create cloned babies.

"Our aim will be to generate stem cells purely for research purposes," Wilmut said in a statement. "This is not reproductive cloning in any way."

The researchers will take cells from the skin of people with motor neuron disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord and causes muscle weakness, paralysis and eventual death.

They'll put genetic material from the cells into eggs donated by women, which will be grown into six-day-old embryos.

Then they'll extract stem cells master cells that appear when an embryo is a few days old and have the ability to develop into any type of cell and tissue in the body and make them develop into nerve cells.

Wilmut and his colleagues will compare how the nerve cells develop in comparison to those harvested from healthy embryos.

They hope to find out what causes ALS, which affects 3,000 Canadians, and kills several of them every day. While their research won't be used to treat people with the condition, they hope it will point the way to effective treatments.

Opponents condemn licence

Cloning opponents denounced the licence Tuesday, arguing that the stem-cell technique is unethical and unnecessary.

"What a sad and extraordinary volte-face for the pioneer of animal cloning," said the London-based Comment on Reproductive Ethics.

"Wilmut has always been the loudest voice in recent years warning of the dangers of mammalian cloning. And we remember how in the years following the birth of Dolly the sheep, he assured the world he would never go near human cloning."

Wilmut has condemned the idea of cloning humans to create babies, but he supports the use of the technique for medical research.

The British researchers say it could enhance the understanding of ALS and other degenerative diseases, and perhaps lead to the discovery of new medications.

"We have spent 20 years looking for genes that cause [motor neuron disease] and to date we have come up with just one gene," Shaw said. "This is potentially a big step forward."

UN to debate cloning in February

The practice of cloning has divided the medical community and spurred debate.

The legality of cloning varies widely. It's banned in Switzerland and in Italy, for example, while Belgium, Singapore, South Korea and Japan allow it for medical research.

• FROM FEB. 12, 2004: Scientists clone human embryo

Last March, Canada's Assisted Human Reproduction Act banned the therapeutic cloning of embryonic stem cells. In the U.S., federal funding is forbidden for research on embryonic stem cells created after August 2001.

Later in February, the United Nations is scheduled to revisit the idea of banning human therapeutic and reproductive cloning.