EXPERT ADVISES BIOTECH FIRMS TO REACH OUT

December 1, 1998

ADELAIDE (Reuters) - Scientists and biotechnology companies pursuing genetic research should promote full and open debate on their work or risk public backlash which could halt their studies, a leading bioethicist said Monday.

Senior Australian judge Michael Kirby said the debate on the cloning of human cells, sparked by the cloning of Dolly the sheep in Scotland in 1996, highlighted the risks when science outstrips debate on ethics.

"Unless there is a proper, thorough explanation to the community of the scientific arguments for cloning, the natural response of a community ignorant of the potential benefits is to simply say 'this is unnatural...we should ban it,'" he said.