Inventions and Inventors Volume 1 - Online Public Access Catalog

est and brightest of humanity could be forever perpetuated, creating
an endless supply of Albert Einsteins and Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozarts. Pessimists warned of a world overrun by clones of selfserving
narcissists and petty despots, or of the creation of a secondary
class of humans to serve as organ donors for their progenitors.
The Roslin Institute’s researchers steadfastly proclaimed their
own opposition to human experimentation. Moreover, most scientists
were quick to point out that such scenarios were far from realization,
noting the extremely high failure rate involved in the creation
of even a single sheep. In addition, most experts emphasized
more practical possible uses of the technology: improving agricultural
stock by cloning productive and disease-resistant animals, for
example, or regenerating endangered or even extinct species. Even
such apparently benign schemes had their detractors, however, as
other observers remarked on the potential dangers of thus narrowing
a species’ genetic pool.
Even prior to the Roslin Institute’s announcement, most European
nations had adopted a bioethics code that flatly prohibited genetic
experiments on human subjects. Ten days after the announcement,
U.S. president Bill Clinton issued an executive order that
banned the use of federal money for human cloning research, and
he called on researchers in the private sector to refrain from such experiments
voluntarily. Nevertheless, few observers doubted that
Dolly’s birth marked only the beginning of an intriguing—and possibly
frightening—new chapter in the history of science.
See also Amniocentesis; Artificial chromosome; Artificial insemination;
Genetic “fingerprinting”; In vitro plant culture; Rice and
wheat strains.
Further Reading
Cloning / 181
Facklam, Margery, Howard Facklam, and Paul Facklam. From Cell to
Clone: The Story of Genetic Engineering. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1979.
Gillis, Justin. “Cloned Cows Are Fetching Big Bucks: Dozens of Genetic
Duplicates Ready to Take Up Residence on U.S. Farms.”
Washington Post (March 25, 2001).