In 1996, the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh acquired global standing – and notoriety – when it announced the creation of the first mammal cloned from adult cells, Dolly the sheep. Having been awarded the first UK licence for human embryo research in 2003, it now seems set to continue its groundbreaking ways, with the announcement that Professor Ian Wilmut, Dolly’s creator, has applied for what will be the first licence granted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for creation, by cloning, of human embryos for research into motor neurone disease. This is known as therapeutic cloning.
In the late 1990s, various groups, including the Nuffield Council and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission, recommended that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, which governs therapeutic cloning, should be amended to permit research under controlled circumstances into serious degenerative diseases. The new regulations were introduced in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Research) Regulations 2001.
