“Dolly symbolized growing human power over nature… Collectively, there was a sense that the science was way ahead of the ethics. It looked like we were on the verge of being able to do whatever we wanted with living matter, and we all needed to talk about what we wanted“. Ian Wilmut, le “père de Dolly” la brebis, premier mammifère cloné, s’est éteint  le 10 septembre dernier. Quel est l’héritage moral de cette avancée majeure en biologie de la reproduction ? se demande à cette occasion Gregory Kaebnick, chercheur au Hastings Center aux Etats-Unis, dans le magazine Stat. 

“A further part of Dolly’s legacy is the long-term reaction to such conversation. Scholars interested in the ethics of emerging technology began to take a step back — to think about how to think about the topic. In science and technology studies, for example, an entire literature arose around “responsible research and innovation,” which is a conceptual framework that has implications both for how scientists do science and for how society governs science. According to the principles of responsible research and innovation, science policy should be anticipatory and self-critical, actively seek other viewpoints, and respond to public values. “Public engagement” — the idea that the public should be informed about and should have opportunities to provide input about the development and use of new technologies — became critically important“.

 Gregory E. Kaebnick. The morally ground-shifting legacy of Ian Wilmut and Dolly the sheep. 15 septembre 2023. https://www.statnews.com/2023/09/15/ian-wilmut-death-dolly-sheep-bioethics-public-engagement/