But the announcement immediately provoked widespread controversy over the ethics of cloning. Supporters claimed the development would end the worldwide organs shortage. Critics fear it might bring about deadly new diseases and say experiments could lead to suffering by animals reared specifically for spare parts. Experimental transplants of organs into primates would begin in three years and clinical trials on humans could start in four. Transplants into human patients might start in as little as six years.
Scientists hope to be able to grow pig cells and organs which are compatible with the human body.
They were produced by scientists working for PPL Therapeutics, the commercial arm of the Edinburgh-based Roslin Institute, which cloned Dolly. It is hoped the breakthrough is a milestone on the way to cloning an animal with organs which the human body will accept. What we have done now is successfully cloned a pig for the first time. That in itself is an achievement. But it also opens the door to making modified pigs whose organs and cells can be successfully transplanted into humans.