THE cloning of adult sheep by Scottish scientists has alerted authorities in the US to the lack of government control over this sensitive area of research.
A loophole is largely due to refusals by President Clinton and Congress to authorise federal funding for human embryo research, thus leaving the field open to unregulated private institutions.
Mr Clinton has reacted swiftly by asking the National Bioethics Advisory Commission to review these "troubling" implications and report to him in 90 days.
"While this technological advance could offer potential benefits n such areas as medical research and agriculture," Mr Clinton said, "It also raises serious ethical questions, particularly with respect to the possible use of this technology to clone human embryos."
The commission will be asked to consider whether privately-funded human embryo research in the US ought to be more "sensitive" to the ban imposed on federally funded researchers.
Mr Mike McCurry, a White House spokesman, said the Commission would consider whether the ban should be extended to cover private institutions.
The 18-member commission was appointed last summer to review questions of biogenetic research. It includes experts in medicine, science, ethics, theology and law,
Biogenetic research in the US has become caught up in the sensitive political issue of abortion. A panel of the National Institutes of Health concluded in 1994 that certain types of human embryo research could not be justified but that others, such as research leading to better treatments for infertility, were ethically acceptable.
Mr Clinton banned federal funding for some research and Congress followed with a ban on embryo research funding.
The result has been that private institutions are free to continue research in the absence of government standards, thus human cloning is not outlawed as it is in other countries
This has worried medical and ethical experts. The latest intervention by the president may result in new regulations in the biogenetic field.
On the "startling news", as Mr McCurry described the animal cloning technology, the president has asked for "recommendations on possible federal actions to prevent its abuse" in the US.
Clearly the policy of cutting off federal funds for embryonic research and then hoping there would be no further problems is now seen as short-sighted