Edited by James Humber and Robert Almeder, New Jersey, Humana Press, 1998, 224 pages, $44.50 (hb).

This book is one of many published since the successful cloning of Dolly reported in Nature in February 1997, and gives a specific American view of ethical and legal aspects of the issues raised concerning applications to the human.

Unavoidably, the chapters are of different quality, and it sometimes takes a while to fathom the angle from which the problem is seen. Thus, for those of us not cogniscent of the whole American scene, and as some names are more known on the other side of the Atlantic than others, it would be useful to have a synopsis of the various contributors' positions or at least departments. This is obviously a job which the editors might have tackled. As no general overview of the book is provided either, each chapter will be analysed in turn.

The first chapter by Klugman and Murray is a good read, summarising the …