BMA opens door on human reproductive cloning

Public opposition to human reproductive cloning may be based on nothing more than an “illogical and transient fear of new technology,” according to a British Medical Association discussion paper.

The paper, which is being presented at this week's World Medical Association meeting in Tel Aviv, assumes that the potential hazards of cloning by cell nuclear replacement—the method used to clone Dolly the sheep—will eventually be overcome.

This method involves the implantation of a donor nucleus into a host egg which has had its original nucleus removed. The cloned embryo …