Reaction to news of 'first human clone'

News that scientists in America have apparently created a human clone embryo was greeted with shock by campaigners last night. Describing the news as a 'milestone in scientific depravity' - the ProLife Alliance said it was "horrified at the news that Mike West of ACT has created a human clone for embryonic stem cell experimentation." "Scientists are clearly no longer guided by ethical restraints, said a spokesperson from the ProLife Alliance. They can no longer be trusted with the future of mankind. We urgently need national and international laws which ban all forms of human cloning and genetic manipulation. The USA House of Representatives passed criminal sanctions on cloning ten years imprisonment and at least one million dollars in fines, and this Bill will be passed in the Senate in the Spring. Mr West has obviously rushed to get his shocking experiments up and running before then. "In the House of Lords in Westminster tomorrow a vote will be taken on live-birth cloning. It is an inadequate bill, riddled with glaring loopholes. It does not prevent the creation of cloned embryos, only their implantation in a woman. Implantation in animals or exportation of cloned embryos are not covered, and are two examples of the limitations in our proposed bill. If we are to retain any concept of human dignity, we must all move as quickly as possible towards a global ban on all forms of human cloning, either for live-birth or experimental purposes." Paul Danon from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said: "This is a worrying development which we deplore, not least because it involves treating human life as a mere commodity. Cloning involves the creation of people through a process which degrades human dignity. This reinforces how crucial it is that the British government tightens its proposed law to exclude all types of human cloning for whatever purpose."