Dolly creator reveals clone rethink

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Professor Ian Wilmut has decided that the method he pioneered 10 years ago no longer offers the best way to grow a patient's own cells and tissues in a bid to treat a range of medical conditions.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports that instead, he will switch to a revolutionary and less controversial technique pioneered in Japan, in which cells have been developed from fragments of skin.

Prof Wilmut, of Edinburgh University, said the new technique was "easier to accept socially" than the therapeutic cloning process he helped pioneer, according to the paper.

The new method does not require the use of human embryos, negating an ethical concern cited by the religious right and others opposed to stem cell research.

The Telegraph quotes Prof Wilmut as saying: "I decided a few weeks ago not to pursue nuclear transfer (the method by which Dolly was cloned)."

He will no longer pursue a licence to clone human embryos, which he was awarded just two years ago, the newspaper says.

The news will come as a blow to scientists who believe that the use of embryos to create stem cells is the best way to develop treatments for serious medical conditions such as stroke, heart disease and Parkinson's disease.

Prof Wilmut and his team captured world headlines in 1997 when they unveiled Dolly, a sheep cloned from an adult cell.

But since then, the scientific community has had to counter criticism from pro-life campaigners and religious groups. US president George Bush has forbidden the spending of public money on such research.