(CT) A nationwide consultation on the implications of human cloning was launched in London last week by the Human Genetics Advisory Commission (HGAC) and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

A working party from both groups has produced a document, called Cloning Issues in Reproduction, Science, and Medicine, which will be circulated to more than 200 organisations.

Religious, medical and ethical groups will be asked for their views on cloning issues, and it is hoped that this exercise will attract several hundred thousand replies. The Chairman of the working party is the Revd Canon John Polkinghorne, an Anglican priest and scientist, who says of the consultation:"We're trying to tease out the ethical bases and arguments that lie behind the responses."