pros and cons surrounding genetic engineering.

And this weekend, Bermudians entered into the ethical minefield surrounding the future of bio-technology after a world-famous doctor -- who gained notoriety cloning a sheep -- arrived on the Island.

Dr. Keith Campbell, one of the researchers who earlier this year captured the world's attention with a sheep named Dolly -- the first mammal ever to be cloned from adult cells -- arrived on Friday for a weekend visit to Bermuda.

Formerly of Scotland's Roslin Institute and now with the bio-technology firm, PPL Therapeutics, based in Roanoke, Virginia, Dr. Campbell was one of the headliners at this year's Science and Technology in Action week, which concluded yesterday.

Dr. Campbell, on his first visit to the Island, lectured about his work on the Dolly project on Friday evening, at the Bermuda College's North Hall.

Just prior to his speech, Dr. Campbell spoke with The Royal Gazette about what he planned to share with locals during his brief visit.

"What I want to tell people is the history of cloning in terms of making Dolly, the applications of why we are doing this work and the applications in which we are going to put it -- which is primarily in the field of human therapeutics,'' he said.

"I also want to talk about my views on human cloning to try and allay some of the fears that people have in those areas,'' Dr. Campbell said. "I am definitely not for human cloning. There is no reason for human cloning, there is no medical reasons for human cloning although if you surf the Internet you can find offers to get yourself cloned.

"There is an organisation in Canada that offers cloning for $200,000 but I don't know how they are doing it because I'm not helping them and no one I know in the field is helping them.'' Dr. Campbell said he planned to keep his discussions on cloning broad, instead of scientific.

"I'm not going to give an in-depth scientific lecture because it would take me a few hours,'' he added. "I hope to inform and give people a general overview and not bore people too much.

"It will be a general overview so that people are a little more informed about the history of it, why we set out to do these experiments and what the potential benefits are to human beings.'' SCIENTIFIC DEBATE -- Dr. Keith Campbell spent the weekend talking about his involvement in cloning a sheep named Dolly -- the first mammal to ever be cloned from adult cells.

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