ABSTRACT
The intersections of genomic science and cloning have generated distinctive forms of public interest and concern. As such, they have posed particular challenges to efforts to democratise science and to sustain public engagement with science. Against this backdrop, we explore recent rhetoric about publics pertaining to cloning and genomics, considering in particular the conceptualisation of citizens, consumers, patients and stakeholders. We examine key issues of agency and structure, ethics and politics by
examining how publics have been positioned in recent policy statements, news reporting and documentaries on reproductive and therapeutic cloning. We also examine science-fiction scenarios in film, television drama and drama-documentary. Our analysis incorporates some reflections on focus group and interview material, as we investigate how people, including scientists and ‘ordinary people’, talk about public understandings of cloning.1
