Ethics and lives would be casualties of cloning London, - The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has reacted to reports that the Stemagen Corporation of California has cloned human embryos.

Paul Danon said: "Whatever the truth may be of the claim, it's appalling that scientists are competing in a race in which ethics and human lives are the first casualties. All laboratory cloning is incompatible with the status, dignity and rights of a human individual. Cloning undermines the uniqueness of each individual by seeking to form him or her as an exact genetic copy of another. "Cloning violates human dignity whether the cloned individual is destroyed in the process of using his or her cells for the benefit of another, or if he or she is allowed to continue living by being implanted in a woman's womb. "Cloned human embryos will be regarded as products of a laboratory process, not as individually valuable human beings with the right to nurturing and protection from harm. This is reflected by the many assurances that so-called reproductive cloning would not be allowed. This actually means that no cloned human individual would be allowed to survive. This is all too clearly illustrated by reports that Stemagen's cloned embryos are all now dead."