Cloning issues in reproductive science

Background

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) expressly forbids the cloning of an embryo by nuclear replacement.

Following public interest aroused by the birth of Dolly the sheep in 1997, the Human Genetics Advisory Commission and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) held a joint consultation exercise and reported to Ministers on cloning issues in reproductive science.

Consultation process

In 1998 a working group consisting of members of the HFEA and of the Human Genetics Advisory Commission (HGAC) was established to look at cloning issues in reproductive science.

The consultation sought general comments on how the technology which led to Dolly the sheep might develop and the opportunities and problems that might be raised by human reproductive cloning and other nuclear replacement technology.

The consultation made a distinction between the two types of cloning:

Human reproductive cloning where the intention is to produce identical foetuses or babies
Therapeutic cloning which includes other scientific and medical applications of cloning.

Respondents were invited to make suggestions about what advice might be offered to ministers on ways to build public confidence and understanding on new genetic techniques.

The consultation ran between January and April 1998 and over 1,000 copies of the consultation document were issued.

Consultation responses were received from a wide range of stakeholders, including:

individual members of the public
professional bodies
religious organisations
lay groups (many of whom had organised their own discussion groups or otherwise canvassed views)

The working group produced a joint report to Ministers on "Cloning Issues in Reproduction, Science and Medicine" which analysed the responses to the consultation and discussed the recent scientific advances which had shed more light on the potential of the technology.

The analysis showed that reproductive cloning, that is the act of producing whole human copies, which is already outlawed in the UK, had little support.

Consultation outcome

In The Authority meeting of November 1998 the committee approved the joint HGAC/HFEA report to Ministers on cloning and the publication of its own 1998 Annual Report and Interim Patients' Guide.

The report concluded that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 had proved effective in dealing with new developments relating to human cloning. The report outlined the following recommendations to Ministers:

that the safeguards in the Act be recognised as wholly adequate to forbid human reproductive cloning in the UK
that the Government may wish to consider the possibility of introducing legislation that would explicitly ban human reproductive cloning regardless of the technique used and therefore the full ban would not depend upon the decision of a statutory body (the HFEA) but would itself be enshrined in statute
that the Secretary of State for Health consider specifying in regulations two further purposes for which the HFEA might issue licences for research, so that potential benefits can clearly be explored i.e. the development of methods of therapy for mitochondrial disease and the development of therapeutic treatments for diseased or damaged tissues or organs
that the issues are examined again in five years time in the light of developments and public attitudes towards them.

Further information

Following The Human Reproductive Cloning Act (2001) reproductive cloning was made illegal in the UK. The 2001 Act states that nobody in the UK is allowed to use cell nuclear replacement, or any other technique, to create a child.

Supporting documents

Cloning issues in reproduction, science and medicine consultation (1.10 Mb) (DN: dead link for this one)

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Page last updated: 11 January 2012

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