No need to panic over cloning ruling

The ProLife Alliance is no doubt feeling pretty pleased about its triumph in the High Court last week, which ruled that human cloning is effectively unregulated in the United Kingdom. But it's hard to see what everybody else will gain from the exercise. The only other person who seems to be benefiting from the ruling is Severino Antinori, who has been given yet another opportunity for free publicity of his supposed intention to create the world's first cloned baby.

Despite Antinori's claims, it's hard to see how his plans to clone will ever get off the ground. Any UK collaborator who already has a license from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority runs the risk of losing that license if they work on reproductive cloning. Antinori must also have money to burn if he plans to go to the expense of setting up a clinic which will, when reproductive cloning is outlawed, be closed down for offering illegal services to patients. There is also no evidence that he is technically close to his cloning goal, despite the fact that he has been talking it up for nearly a year.

Some have criticised the government's speedy response to the High Court ruling and to Antinori's claims, accusing it of drafting knee-jerk legislation. The government must be very careful not to repeat legislative mistakes of the past. Fast-track legislation like the Surrogacy Arrangements Act and the Human Organ Transplants Act, which were passed in response to a particular outcry, are deeply flawed as a result. But, unlike these instances, human cloning is not a new debate for parliamentarians. The issue has been well-aired in both chambers and the government has already promised a bill to explicitly ban reproductive cloning.

The government's swift response should not be regarded as reason to panic. With or without a reproductive cloning ban, we will not have cloning for Christmas. Similarly, research involving the creation of cloned embryos (also currently unregulated) is not imminent. But even if UK reproductive scientists were keen to get on with therapeutic cloning, their strong track record of self-regulation, which worked well with embryo research before 1990, should leave us reassured that no floodgate has been opened by the High Court ruling.