Subject: Scientists Debate the Dangers of Human Cloning
Source: Reuters; August 7, 2001

Scientists Debate the Dangers of Human Cloning

Washington, DC -- Researchers who have cloned animals warned on Tuesday
about the dangers of human cloning, telling a U.S. science panel that
experiments involving people likely would fail or produce babies with
severe defects.

"Practice, it is said, makes perfect. But is it ethical to practice_ And I
absolutely think it is not, in the human context," said Alan Colman, a
researcher for Scotland's PPL Therapeutics.

However, scientists determined to create the world's first cloned babies
defended their plans on Tuesday against charges from animal cloning
experts that the technology was too dangerous to apply to humans.

Vowing to take steps to avoid babies being born with severe abnormalities,
Italian doctor Severino Antinori told a contentious meeting of a National
Academy of Sciences panel that he would proceed with plans to provide
cloned children for infertile couples.

The panel is gathering information for a report expected by the end of
September on whether the United States should impose a moratorium on human
cloning, which the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to
outlaw.

Antinori and Panos Zavos, a Kentucky fertility specialist working with
him, faced tough questioning from scientists who have cloned animals and
found extremely high rates of defects and failures.

Zavos said he and Antinori planned to begin the process of creating cloned
babies for infertile couples by November. Antinori gained worldwide notice
by helping a 62-year-old woman have a child in 1994.

Zavos said he could screen embryos for genetic abnormalities before
implanting them, although he acknowledged problems could develop later.
His team would inform couples of potential risks and make them sign
consent forms, he said.

"We're not perfect but we're trying to get there," he insisted. "This
technique can be made safe for people."

Ian Wilmut, whose research led to the cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1997,
said screening attempts like the ones Zavos promised won't work.

"It is not possible to think of a way of screening out effectively the
most appropriate embryos, and hence, what we should expect would be late
abortions -- either occurring spontaneously or being induced deliberately
in the second or third trimester of pregnancy -- in order to prevent the
birth of abnormal children," Wilmut said.

Cloning involves taking a living organism and making a virtually
genetically identical duplicate. To clone a human, scientists would insert
DNA from a person into an egg with its genetic material removed. The egg
would be stimulated to divide into an embryo for research or implanting in
a woman's uterus.

Other scientists at the meeting, heavily attended by U.S. and
international media, said it was impossible to detect the types of
problems seen in animal clones by examining embryos.

"This is not good science," said Rudolf Jaenisch, a biologist and animal
cloning pioneer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead
Institute.

Jaenisch and Zavos repeatedly interrupted each other, with Zavos at one
time protesting, "I'm not going to let him lecture me."

Jaenisch noted that only 1 percent to 5 percent of cloned animals survive
to birth and some of those later die prematurely due to various birth
defects. Others are abnormally overweight. Problems occurred at similar
rates among cloned sheep, cows, mice, pigs and goats, Jaenisch said.

Other researchers said many animal clones were healthy and predicted that
cloning would become more efficient. They said it would still be unethical
to try experiments on humans.

Brigitte Boisselier, a biochemist and member of a group known as the
Raelians, who also has announced plans to create cloned babies, said
people had the right to use their genes the way they wanted. She said that
included the right to reproduce one's self by cloning.

The Raelians, who believe in extraterrestrials, promote cloning as a
chance for "eternal life."

Some panel members asked whether there was anything that could stop the
groups from going ahead with human cloning. The teams have not disclosed
where they will do their experiments other than to say it will be
somewhere the practice is legal.

"Is there any risk too great or any reason too trivial for you not to
attempt human cloning_" asked Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin
bioethicist.

The National Academy panel is examining the science behind current cloning
research as well as the ethics. Some critics say it is wrong to produce a
person that is not genetically unique, even though the clone would be
younger and would grow up in a different time period.

The House-passed ban on human cloning would set punishment of $1 million
or more in fines and up to 10 years in prison. It now goes before the
Senate. President George W. Bush supports the ban on human cloning.

On Tuesday, Bush reiterated his opposition to human cloning.

"As you know I supported the anti-cloning legislation in the Congress,"
Bush told reporters as he vacationed in Texas. "And I'll be making a
statement about my views on how life and science should interface when I'm
ready."