In July 1996, Sir Ian Wilmut shocked the world when his team unveilled Dolly the sheep, the first animal to have been cloned from an adult cell. Ten years on, After Dolly is a timely warning that it would be immoral not to carry out forms of human cloning. In the wake of Dolly's birth there has been endless debate about where cloning would take us and whether it could lead to the creation of soulless pseudo-people; even challenge what it means to be human. But Dolly also launched a medical revolution whereby cloning techniques are used to make chameleon cells - called stem cells - that promise effective treatments for diabetes, Parkinson's, heart disease and other major illnesses.

While Sir Wilmut remains opposed to cloning babies, he presents a controversial and compelling case as to why scientists should combine the cloning of human embryos with genetic modification to free families from serious hereditary disease. In effect, he is proposing the creation of genetically altered humans. 

Written with award-winning science journalist Roger Highfield, this highly readable and important book combines a page-turning narrative of the events leading to Dolly's creation and birth with an authoritative survey of the fastest-moving field in biology. Above all, it warns that society can cause as much harm by curbing this powerful new technology as by allowing it to spin out of control.