“Storm over human embryo” was the headline that greeted Advanced Cell Technology's (ACT) announcement that they had cloned the first human embryo (The Sun, 28 November 2001).

The study showed that human embryos could be developed by somatic cell transfer. The somatic nuclei showed evidence of reprogramming, returned to the pronuclear state and divided into six cells, like a normal fertilized human egg.

Michael West, chief executive of ACT, stressed this clone would be for therapeutic reasons only, saying, “we took extreme measures to ensure that a human clone could not result from this technology,” (The Guardian, 26 November 2001).

The response to this study was profound. John Gearhart, editorial advisor to the journal that published the study, resigned. The experiment, “was in his judgement a failure and should not have been published” (BBC News, 3 December 2001). The claim was vigorously defended by ACT.

But there were further ramifications from the research. The UK government rushed through a legislation to close a legal loophole allowing people like Severino Antinori to carry out his attempts to help childless couples clone themselves. The European Commission said it opposed the research and would not finance any similar projects (BBC News, 26 November 2001).

However, the US Senate refused to ban human cloning research, as opponents stressed that the continuation of studies could lead to new disease treatments.

The Sun agreed, saying the benefits would outstrip the fears if we stay sensible. “Laws must be passed to stop full-scale cloning of a human being. Science is not evil. Neither are medical scientists. Indeed, many are unsung heroes”.