The British scientist who created Dolly the sheep has applied for a licence to clone human embryos in the hope of finding a cure for motor neurone disease.
Prof Ian Wilmut has sent his request to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to enable him to clone cells from sufferers of the debilitating condition to discover how the disease develops.
If the licence is granted, it will be only the second time scientists in Britain have been given the go-ahead to clone human embryos for medical research.
The application is likely to anger pro-life campaigners and fuel the controversial debate on so-called therapeutic cloning.
story
~I don't think American scientists are allowed to do this kind of research, or is it that America's scientific community is so far advanced that the idea of requiring licences to work with human embryos is viewed as a joke? I forget.