Dolly 1st.Anniversary - Church of Scotland Press Release

Bob Carling (carling@tcp.co.uk)
Tue, 03 Mar 1998 17:37:02

>From: srtscot@dial.pipex.com
>Date: Mon, 23 Feb 98 13:21:30 PST
>Subject: Dolly 1st.Anniversary - Church of Scotland Press Release
>To: Margaret Jeffrey <ruth.badger@rbadger.clara.net>, peterbrain@gn.apc.org,
> Michele Rigby <pa_ccbi@cix.co.uk>, neilmesser@compuserve.com,
> Raymond Tringham <101463.75@compuserve.com>, justin@csis.org.uk,
> Robert Vint <reep@globalnet.co.uk>,
> Sam Berry/EIN <cberry@centrenet.co.uk>,
> Frank Bardgett <fdb@mail.enterprise.net>,
> Frank Turner SJ <frank.turner@btinternet.com>,
> j.e.t.eldridge@socsci.gla.ac.uk,
> Jennifer Potter <watson@mrdf.demon.co.uk>, ian.wilmut@bbsrc.ac.uk,
> Church Times <p.ashworth@john316.com>,
> Bethan Ilett <Bethan.Ilett@club.innet.be>,
> EECCS Strasbourg <eeccs@media-net.fr>,
> Gudrun Kordecki <Kordecki@t-online.de>,
> Hans-Hermann Bohm <SCHAEFER@elk-wue.de>,
> Bob Herrmann <herrmann@gordonc.edu>, Bob Carling <carling@tcp.co.uk>,
> Christine von Weizsaecker <cvw@isd.de>,
> Ronald Cole-Turner <coleturn+@pitt.edu>,
> Marise Pegat-Toquet <mpt@wcc-coe.org>, tpeters@ferrari.autobahn.org,
> s-schim@uiuc.edu, ENI ENI <eni@wcc-coe.org>
>X-Mailer: Chameleon V0.05, TCP/IP for Windows, NetManage Inc.
>
>To various UK, European and wider contacts of the Society Religion and
Technology
>Project, Church of Scotland, for information
>
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>First Anniversary of Announcement of Dolly
>
>PRESS RELEASE
>
>Dr Donald Bruce, Director, Society Religion and Technology
>Project, Church of Scotland
>
>
>Contact tel. 0131-556 2953, Fax 0131-556 7478,
>srtscot@dial.pipex.com
>
>or Church of Scotland Press Office 0131- 240 2243
>
>23 February 1998, for immediate release.
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>Dr Bruce is Director of the Society Religion and Technology
>Project of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the a scientist
>responsible for assessing ethical issues in technology for the
>Scotland's national church. He has published a number of
>articles on ethical aspects of the cloning issue, and chaired an
>expert working group in Edinburgh on the ethics of genetic
>engineering in non-human life forms, one of whose members was
>Ian Wilmut, the Roslin scientist leading the cloning work. This
>work will be published in a book "Engineering Genesis" this
>autumn.
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>A year ago today, Dolly the sheep, the world's first mammal
>cloned from an adult cell was announced (although she was born
>in July 1996). This created an extraordinary level of interest.
> The Society Religion and Technology Project Internet website on
>cloning has continued to receive about 400 visits a day for
>almost the whole year, with inquiries from all over the world.
>The unprecedented media and public interest has not always
>resulted in a balanced coverage and debate, however. Claims
>about rapid progress towards human cloning, doubts about the
>exact origins of Dolly, and both enthusiasms and fears about
>medical applications - these are examples of the exaggeration
>that has been as much a feature of the discussion as the issues
>themselves.
>
>
>
>The technology is still in its early days, and shows the sort of
>uncertainties one would expect at this stage. Some animal
>welfare concerns over cloning will need to be resolved before it
>could be used more widely. These suggest, however, that to
>attempt the same thing in humans ought not to be alowed, as it
>would put mother and foetus at serious risk, quite apart from
>the strong worldwide ethical objection to cloning human beings.
>There has also been much publicity given to the possibility that
>Dolly may have originated in foetal cell material and not from
>an udder cell. This would seem very remote and probably does
>not justify the level of doubt cast, especially since the main
>technological development in sheep and now cattle is being done
>with foetal cells.
>
>
>
>The first extension of the work to cattle was announced earlier
>this year and a second case is report by PPL Therapeutics in the
>USA. This is simply another logical step in the application of
>the Roslin method of nuclear transfer, and raises no particular
>objection from the Church of Scotland. In May 1997 the General
>Assembly supported the limited application at the Roslin
>Institute and PPL Therapeutics to genetically modifed cloned
>farm animals, producing medically useful proteins in their milk.
> It would be opposed, however, to the extension of Roslin's
>cloning technology, not only to cloning human beings, but also
>to the routine cloning of animals for production, seen as a step
>too far in applying mass production methods to animals. Cattle
>are the most likely animals to which this might be done, and the
>Kirk will monitor how these latest developments are applied.
>
>
>
>The church left open for the time being its view on medical
>applications which might arise out of the Roslin technique,
>short of cloning a full human being. Some of these might prove
>ethically questionable; some might not. It is encouraging that
>the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Human
>Genetics Advisory Committee have produced a consultation
>document seeking public debate on this issue. It is vital that
>the debate is not swayed either by unbridled fears or
>exaggerated scientific optimism, and that it takes due account
>not only of rational argument but also the more intuitive public
>reactions and basic underlying values these express.
>
>
>-------------------------------------
>e-mail: srtscot@dial.pipex.com
>Date: 02/23/98
>Time: 13:21:30
>-------------------------------------
>Dr Donald M.Bruce
>
>Society, Religion and Technology Project
>Church of Scotland
>John Knox House
>45 High Street
>Edinburgh EH1 1SR
>Scotland
>
>Tel. +44 (0)131 556 2953
>Fax +44 (0)131 556 7478
>srtscot@dial.pipex.com
>http://webzone1.co.uk/www/srtproject/srtpage3.htm
>
>
>
========================================================
Dr R.C.J. Carling, Senior Commissioning Editor Science
National Publishing, The Stationery Office
St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich NR3 1PD

Home: Work:
Tel: 01703 778830 Tel: 01603 69 4918
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carling@tcp.co.uk bob.carling@theso.co.uk
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