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27-11-02, 07:01 PM
Human Clone
Reports Say One May Be On The Way -- Like It Or Not
By Laurie Barclay
Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
WebMD Medical News
Nov. 26, 2002 -- We may soon be able to drop the fiction aspect from the science fiction surrounding human cloning. A fertility specialist in Rome announced today he has cloned a healthy human embryo that will be born in January, according to published reports.
The controversial doctor, Severino Antinori, would not say where the birth would take place or disclose any other information. Last year, Antinori announced that his team had unlimited funding for cloning research and up to 700 couples willing to be cloned.
Although the issue of whether we can clone a human may now be put to rest, the issue still remains of whether we should clone a human.
Is it necessary, is it ethical, and what are the risks?
"Cloning mammals has been thus far a dismal record of failures -- dead, dying, and deformed clones, and threats to the health and life of the females bearing cloned fetuses," Thomas H. Murray, PhD, president of the Hastings Center in Garrison, N.Y., told WebMD.
"Dolly the cloned sheep is grossly obese, and probably not normal," said Rudolf Jaenisch, MD. "Molly the cloned cow dropped dead in the field one day for unknown reasons."
Possible risks to the mother include the relatively gargantuan size of the fetus. Because of the clone's excessive weight and a placenta seven times normal size, a cesarean section is always needed in cloned animals, Jaenisch explained.
If cloning works as rarely in humans as in animals, 95 to 99 of every 100 pregnancies would fail, causing physical and emotional trauma for the mother, he says.
Jaenisch, professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and a pioneer in animal models of gene transfer, is concerned that clones could have subtle genetic defects showing up later, with tragic consequences like brain damage.
As mankind has not yet dealt successfully with hunger, poverty, pollution, or warfare, "we are unlikely to have the wisdom to direct our own evolution."
Members, what do you think of this news? Are you pro or against such experiment and tell us why?
Reports Say One May Be On The Way -- Like It Or Not
By Laurie Barclay
Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
WebMD Medical News
Nov. 26, 2002 -- We may soon be able to drop the fiction aspect from the science fiction surrounding human cloning. A fertility specialist in Rome announced today he has cloned a healthy human embryo that will be born in January, according to published reports.
The controversial doctor, Severino Antinori, would not say where the birth would take place or disclose any other information. Last year, Antinori announced that his team had unlimited funding for cloning research and up to 700 couples willing to be cloned.
Although the issue of whether we can clone a human may now be put to rest, the issue still remains of whether we should clone a human.
Is it necessary, is it ethical, and what are the risks?
"Cloning mammals has been thus far a dismal record of failures -- dead, dying, and deformed clones, and threats to the health and life of the females bearing cloned fetuses," Thomas H. Murray, PhD, president of the Hastings Center in Garrison, N.Y., told WebMD.
"Dolly the cloned sheep is grossly obese, and probably not normal," said Rudolf Jaenisch, MD. "Molly the cloned cow dropped dead in the field one day for unknown reasons."
Possible risks to the mother include the relatively gargantuan size of the fetus. Because of the clone's excessive weight and a placenta seven times normal size, a cesarean section is always needed in cloned animals, Jaenisch explained.
If cloning works as rarely in humans as in animals, 95 to 99 of every 100 pregnancies would fail, causing physical and emotional trauma for the mother, he says.
Jaenisch, professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and a pioneer in animal models of gene transfer, is concerned that clones could have subtle genetic defects showing up later, with tragic consequences like brain damage.
As mankind has not yet dealt successfully with hunger, poverty, pollution, or warfare, "we are unlikely to have the wisdom to direct our own evolution."
Members, what do you think of this news? Are you pro or against such experiment and tell us why?