Dolly the sheep: Scientific marvel or symbol of a dystopian future?

In 1997 news that scientists at a Scottish research institute had successfully cloned a sheep from an adult cell reverberated around the globe. 

The sheep, named Dolly, was the first of her kind. Her birth was the result of an experiment to increase the amount of ewes' milk that could be used to improve human health.

Reactions varied from astonishment and excitement to incredulity and fear. Dolly’s existence raised not only the tantalising possibility of treating diseases such as Parkinson’s, but also the contentious prospect of cloning humans.

On Dolly – The Sheep that Changed the World Roger Highfield, former science editor at the Sunday Telegraph, recalls the polarised reaction to this scientific milestone. 

“Some people say that Dolly defied the laws of biology. Well, she didn’t, what she did was [she] showed that we didn’t understand biology properly."   

Rival scientists questioned the abilities of the team from the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh. 

“You’ve got those sleek, American, glinty-eyed molecular biologists in these posh east coast laboratories and you did get a palpable sense that they slightly looked down their noses at the Dolly announcement," says Roger. 

"There were several attacks questioning whether it was real, whether the Roslin team had made a mistake, and so on."

The successful experiment suggested that ‘therapeutic cloning’ could soon be within our reach. It implied that by cloning healthy human tissue and transplanting them to patients, illnesses such as heart disease and Parkinson's Disease could be treated.

However, many reacted to Dolly with horror, asking where the research would lead, and raising concerns about any potential cloning of humans. 

"I think the most lurid side of it which got people really talking was about what [this means] for cloning people," Roger recalls. "The whole of the Fleet Street press corps cooked up the story, raising spectres of cloning armies of dictators."

Within a week the Roslin team were being questioned by MPs at Westminster, who demanded to know how easy it would be to clone humans based on their success with Dolly. Meanwhile lawyers scrambled to determine whether such an experiment would be legal.

Dolly was euthanised in 2003 due to a condition believed to be unrelated to her cloning. Her preserved body is on display at the National Museum of Scotland; a reminder to visitors of ground-breaking Scottish science. 

But perhaps Dolly's true legacy remains to be seen.