Cloning What do you think about cloning?  Peninsula Medical School

Winston Smith I have a damaged kidney and I have to take tablets every day to keep me healthy. I’ve heard that some cloning research could help to produce a new kidney for me. It will be cloned from my own cells, so there will be no danger of rejection when it’s transplanted. I’m in favour of any research that could save my life.

Rajnesh Patel Science has promised so much in the past and it has improved our lives but … I worry about some of the new technology. I feel we are doing things now because we can, not because we should. I fear cloning will lead to designer babies and identical people. I think we should stop research now and have a public debate about what we really want. I fear for the future.

Dr Joel Parsons I work in a drug company doing research into diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Our most promising line of research uses cloned human stem cells. If this research was banned we could put back the cure for these illnesses by many years. I feel it’s wrong to make people suffer because other people are nervous about what might happen.

Lilly Walsh I’ve got a clone in my house! My old cat, Montgomery, was cloned before he died and my new kitten is a clone of him. I loved Monty so much that I couldn’t imagine life without him so I paid an American company to clone him. I’m very happy and I love my ‘new’ Monty just as much as his ‘father’. Have I really done anything wrong?

Gordon Powell I work with giant pandas in China. These animals are almost extinct and its very difficult to breed them. The institute has recently started to look at cloning some of our animals. This might be the only way to make sure they survive. If cloning research is banned we could lose these friendly and valuable animals for ever.

Dr X No, I’m not going to give you my name. I work with very rich people who value their privacy. Many of them have no children and do not want to adopt. They want to create clones of themselves to take over their business empires when they die. I believe we should use our brains to develop new technologies. We always have - it’s what makes us different from dumb animals. I will do the research whatever governments say.  Roslin Institute

What do you think? And why? Dr Joel Parsons “Why prolong people’s suffering?” Winston Smith “A ban on cloning will kill me!” Rajnesh Patel “Do we really want this research?” What do you think? And why? Gordon Powell “Cloning could save the panda.” Dr X “You can’t stop me anyway!” Lilly Walsh “I love my clone!”