Public Perspectives on Human Cloning presents the results of a public consultation exercise, commissioned by the Wellcome Trust in the spring of 1998, on human cloning and the use of cloning technology in medical research. The aim of the research was to provide input from members of the public who do not usually have a voice in such issues (the ‘uninvolved public’) to the Human Genetics Advisory Commission (HGAC)/Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) joint consultation document, Cloning Issues in Reproduction, Science and Medicine. Preliminary findings were included in the Wellcome Trust’s response to the Working Party.

The Wellcome Trust believes that public debate about the ethical and social issues raised by developments in medical research is important. As a major funder of such research, it is investing £15 million over five years to stimulate and inform this debate.

The purpose of this study was to explore the public’s perspective on human cloning. The research had two specific aims:

• to inform part of the Wellcome Trust’s response to the consultation document Cloning Issues in Reproduction, Science and Medicine, issued in January 1998 by the Human Genetics Advisory Commission (HGAC) and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA);
• to test reconvened group discussions as a method of consulting members of the uninvolved public on their views about the social and ethical issues raised by developments in medical research.

Ten group discussions and four interviews with couples were undertaken. Each discussion lasted two hours and began by exploring participants’ knowledge and image of medical research and cloning in particular. During the last half hour or so participants were ‘taught’ about cloning technology by the researchers. The groups were reconvened between one and four weeks later to see how, if at all, views had changed after exposure to relevant scientific information and time to consider the technology and the issues involved.

Research of this nature provides rich and detailed data on people’s experiences, understanding, views and images of an issue. It does not, however, allow measurement of the proportion of the population that believes one view or another. Samples are best described as cross-sections of the population, selected in an effort to ensure that as many views as possible are represented and explored – they are not intended to be representative in a statistical sense.