Cyberdoc reviews cloning online...

The material about cloning on the CMF website can be located either through their site index or the ethics homepage, by following the genetic link. Included is their 1998 submission on ‘Cloning issues in reproduction, science and medicine’ to the Human Genetics Advisory Forum (HGAC) and Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

The Roslin Institute is where cloning was first successfully performed, but their web site is rather poor. There is minimal discussion of ethical issues, and a rather tacky design. A book entitled ‘The 2nd Creation’ is strongly promoted, which is enough to stir concerns that scientists think they are playing God with this technology.

Christian sites on this subject appear to be few and far between, with the excellent Church of Scotland Society, Religion and Technology Project site a notable exception. Interestingly one of the Roslin scientists had significant input into this work.

Guardian Unlimited has a special section of their site devoted to genetics in general and laced with an healthy air of scepticism. Surprisingly, despite appearing to be generally up to date, there was no mention of the latest suggestion that homosexual fathers could conceive using cloning technology. BBC News made up for this lack, and linked from this story to some very useful background information, including audio clips and ethical discussion. The main BBC site returned an amazing 186 documents about cloning including several full transcripts of programs like Horizon.

The Government sponsored Human Genetics Comission site contains little more of substance than a link (under their ‘what’s new’ section) to the full text of the recent Donaldson report on stem cell research (read ‘cloning’ in most scientists minds).

Easily the best website on the ethical aspects of human cloning is one which calls itself religioustolerance.org. The page on cloning includes arguments and quotations for and against cloning, and an explanation of stem cell research. There is a vast catalogue of references, mostly linked online. If you have time only to look at only one site on the subject this is the one!