Fed: Celluloid cloning no replica of science

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2006
Fed: Celluloid cloning no replica of science

(EDS: Embargoed until 0001 AEST Wednesday, August 16)



By Robin Pash

CANBERRA, Aug 16 AAP - The clone army in Star Wars and Dr Evil's maniacal pint-sized
replica in the Austin Powers spy spoofs have tickled millions of movie goers, but how
good is the science?

Somewhere close to appalling, according to a government report.

The study, by federal government agency Biotechnology Australia, found the dominant
film portrayal of cloning as the domain of evil geniuses has left the field's scientists
with an uphill battle to educate a wary public.

The agency studied 33 films that depict human cloning, predictably finding that many
have, at best, a limited grasp of the science.

As Australian politicians grapple with the current ban on therapeutic cloning - harvesting
embryos for the purpose of producing stem cells - the public view of cloning, it seems,
is influenced heavily by the silver screen.

And those views, the report found, are overwhelmingly negative.

"Overall, scientists hoping to educate the public about the reality and limitations
of cloning are facing an uphill battle," the report said.

Movies most commonly portrayed cloning as the product of wayward scientists and corporations
operating outside the law.

Other key themes from the films studied for the report were that cloning interfered
with nature, or dealt with the human rights of clones.

But the study found the movie science was rarely accurate.

Only 28 per cent of the films scored a high accuracy rating for their scientific portrayals
of human cloning.

Just 16 per cent managed a moderate rating, while 40 per cent were rated as low and
16 per cent as very low.

The report said there was not enough evidence to suggest films were driving public
attitudes on cloning, but the correlations between the celluloid themes and public concerns
were impossible to ignore.

"The public definitely has strong concerns about human reproductive cloning, and these
are reinforced, or mirrored, by the portrayal of cloning in movies," the study found.

Focus groups run by Biotechnology Australia found cloning was very real in people's
minds, despite being illegal, and participants often used a Hollywood movie as a reference
for their attitudes.

The movies studied for the report were made between 1971 and 2005.

Biotechnology Australia found one of the most scientifically correct was the 1978 Oscar
winner The Boys From Brazil - a chilling tale of a fugitive Nazi scientist trying to clone
Adolf Hitler.

Researchers found the producers delivered a high level of scientific accuracy, going
to great lengths to explain the process of cloning.

Others, like the 2002 Eddie Murphy shocker Pluto Nash, and The 6th Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger's
mercifully singular foray into celluloid science, rated very poorly.

Also at the bottom of the heap, scientifically, were comedian Mike Meyers' trilogy
of James Bond parodies, the Austin Powers series, and Sigourney Weaver's fourth extra
terrestrial bloodbath, Alien Resurrection.

The trio of Jurassic Park movies won a moderate rating for scientific accuracy, held
back by "creative leaps" like the ability to mix the DNA of frogs and dinosaurs.

The report was released at the National Science Festival in Canberra.

Biotechnology Australia is a collaboration between the federal departments of Health,
Agriculture, Industry, Education and Environment.

AAP rp/sb/pe

KEYWORD: CLONING (WITH FACTBOX) EMBARGOED

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