While the consultation is under way, work will progress on plans to establish a national collection of half a million DNA samples from adult volunteers in the UK. The anonymous DNA database would be linked to information from GPs about the volunteers' health and lifestyle.

BBC: Genetic data 'insurance fear'

The father, who has remained anonymous, wants DNA from his son to be used to create a clone.

CNN: Group says it will move human cloning work offshore

Less fancifully, the Human Microbiome Project is in the stage the human genome project was a decade ago, when all that was really available was a single reference genome built from the DNA of anonymous volunteers.

FORBES: Government Unveils First Map Of All The Germs In The Human Body