Doc Rules Out Human Cloning

THE man who created Dolly the sheep has ditched plans for human cloning research for a new stem cell technique which does not use embryos.

Professor Ian Wilmut says the method he pioneered 10 years ago no longer offers the best way to grow a patient’s own cells to treat some medical conditions.

Instead, he will switch to a less controversial technique, pioneered in Japan, in which cells are “grown” from fragments of skin.

The Edinburgh University professor, said the new technique was “easier to accept socially” than therapeutic cloning.

The method does not use human embryos, the main objection by pro- life and religious groups to stem cell research.

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