Wilmut looks at human cloning in “After Dolly”

Ian Wilmut, leader of the team that created the world’s most famous sheep, has joined forces with British science writer Roger Highfield on a new book called After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning, now reviewed at The Science Shelf.

It is a good read and provides a useful perspective on the history of cloning and the controvery surrounding it. Still, the closing chapters will induce something of a shiver from many readers.

While managing to avoid advocating a Boys From Brazil approach by respecting religious and cultural sensibilities and coming out against the creation of clones of human adults, Wilmut gets perilously close to Brave New World or the hubris of Dr. Frankenstein when he talks about the value of “Designer Babies.”

For a link to the full review, visit the Science Shelf news page.