paris

The cloning of humans for reproductive purposes is “ethically unacceptable”, according to the nine-member group that advises the European Commission on the ethical implications of biotechnology. But, in an “opinion” issued last week, the group also stated that cloning animals is acceptable, provided it does not harm their welfare.

Widely viewed as a body set up by the commission to help adjudicate on disputes between the biotechnology industry and environmental lobbies, the group has given few explanations of how it reached the conclusions of its seven-page opinion, which was agreed during a series of closed meetings (see Nature 387, 321; 321; 1997).

The opinion recommends a ban on reproductive cloning of humans by nuclear transfer, arguing that “consideration of instrumentalization and eugenics” makes this unethical, and that such techniques would also be unsafe. It says that cloning by embryo splitting, “however understandable” (see Nature 387 324; 324 1997), should also be prohibited.

In contrast, the ethics advisory group says that research using cloning techniques should be permitted under strict licensing arrangements, provided that the research throws light on the cause of human disease or “alleviates suffering”. But it adds that such research should not go as far as allowing the implementation of a manipulated embryo in the uterus.