http://www.recordnet.com/daily/news/articles/100302-gn-6.shtml
UOP speaker: Baby clone coming soon
By Victor Balta
Record Staff Writer
Published Thursday, October 3, 2002
The first cloned human baby will likely be born next year, a leading researcher said Wednesday at University of the Pacific.
Dr. Panayiotis Zavos, who leads a secret team of doctors working to develop the first human clone, was quick to debunk concerns that the bold technological step was coming too quickly.
"If we wait, someone else will do it, probably in a much more irresponsible way," he said.
"I find that people are somewhat misinformed (about cloning); they've been watching the wrong movies and reading the wrong books," Zavos said. "I am not a Frankenstein, and I don't create monsters."
About 1,000 people attended Zavos' talk at Pacific's Faye Spanos Concert Hall.
Zavos is a professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, where he worked for nearly two decades on in vitro fertilization. His cloning team is working outside the country, and his research is privately funded.
Zavos said his group has not yet performed experiments with human embryos. His researchers plan to implant a cloned human embryo into a surrogate mother, and the baby will be an identical twin of either the mother or father, depending on who contributed the DNA.
Past animal clone experiments, including the one that produced Dolly the sheep, were done hastily and resulted in various defects, Zavos said. Furthermore, Zavos said, animals and humans are different and would respond differently to cloning.
"It may, in fact, be easier to clone humans," he said.
Separating his work from animal cloning, Zavos also said his team recognizes the importance of being successful in cloning humans and not simply creating human clones to see how it goes.
"When it comes to cloning humans, we're either going to do it correctly or we're not going to do it at all," he said.
Zavos said his team of doctors has been involved in cloning for 25 years.
"I do have the Michael Jordans of the cloning business," he said, "and we can play ball.
"Our team knows more about this subject than all of the animal cloners put together."
Zavos said human cloning, like any other technology, has the potential to be abused, and he supports regulations and restrictions. But before that can happen, the concerns over whether the process should be banned altogether need to be addressed.
Cloning is a major debate in philosophical and religious circles, and several countries have laws against it. Congress, however, has not yet agreed on a bill banning cloning. The House of Representatives approved a bill last year, but the Senate has not acted on it. Five states, including California, have prohibitions against human cloning.
Zavos said he believes the United Nations should get involved in regulating cloning so there is relative uniformity throughout the world on the subject.
"I think we're all in agreement that this technology will eventually be developed in the very near future," he said. "So now the questions should be: Who should do it? And what should be done to make sure it's done safely?"
Francoise Barnett of Stockton said she thought Zavos' presentation was informative and very clearly presented.
"I think it should be pursued," she said, noting that she came expecting to hear most of what she heard. "I wanted to know more and feel more comfortable with it, and I do."
Michael Hamanaka, a business student at Pacific, isn't so sure. He said that if a female clone is made of a woman who can't reproduce naturally, it would follow that the child, too, would be unable to reproduce.
Also, because the cloning process allows the option between a male or female baby and the embryo must be carried by a woman, it could result in the elimination of men, he said.
"If you can do that, men aren't necessary anymore," he said. "It sounds like science fiction, but it isn't."
* To reach reporter Victor Balta, phone 546-8272 or e-mail
vbalta@recordnet.com
UOP speaker: Baby clone coming soon
By Victor Balta
Record Staff Writer
Published Thursday, October 3, 2002
The first cloned human baby will likely be born next year, a leading researcher said Wednesday at University of the Pacific.
Dr. Panayiotis Zavos, who leads a secret team of doctors working to develop the first human clone, was quick to debunk concerns that the bold technological step was coming too quickly.
"If we wait, someone else will do it, probably in a much more irresponsible way," he said.
"I find that people are somewhat misinformed (about cloning); they've been watching the wrong movies and reading the wrong books," Zavos said. "I am not a Frankenstein, and I don't create monsters."
About 1,000 people attended Zavos' talk at Pacific's Faye Spanos Concert Hall.
Zavos is a professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, where he worked for nearly two decades on in vitro fertilization. His cloning team is working outside the country, and his research is privately funded.
Zavos said his group has not yet performed experiments with human embryos. His researchers plan to implant a cloned human embryo into a surrogate mother, and the baby will be an identical twin of either the mother or father, depending on who contributed the DNA.
Past animal clone experiments, including the one that produced Dolly the sheep, were done hastily and resulted in various defects, Zavos said. Furthermore, Zavos said, animals and humans are different and would respond differently to cloning.
"It may, in fact, be easier to clone humans," he said.
Separating his work from animal cloning, Zavos also said his team recognizes the importance of being successful in cloning humans and not simply creating human clones to see how it goes.
"When it comes to cloning humans, we're either going to do it correctly or we're not going to do it at all," he said.
Zavos said his team of doctors has been involved in cloning for 25 years.
"I do have the Michael Jordans of the cloning business," he said, "and we can play ball.
"Our team knows more about this subject than all of the animal cloners put together."
Zavos said human cloning, like any other technology, has the potential to be abused, and he supports regulations and restrictions. But before that can happen, the concerns over whether the process should be banned altogether need to be addressed.
Cloning is a major debate in philosophical and religious circles, and several countries have laws against it. Congress, however, has not yet agreed on a bill banning cloning. The House of Representatives approved a bill last year, but the Senate has not acted on it. Five states, including California, have prohibitions against human cloning.
Zavos said he believes the United Nations should get involved in regulating cloning so there is relative uniformity throughout the world on the subject.
"I think we're all in agreement that this technology will eventually be developed in the very near future," he said. "So now the questions should be: Who should do it? And what should be done to make sure it's done safely?"
Francoise Barnett of Stockton said she thought Zavos' presentation was informative and very clearly presented.
"I think it should be pursued," she said, noting that she came expecting to hear most of what she heard. "I wanted to know more and feel more comfortable with it, and I do."
Michael Hamanaka, a business student at Pacific, isn't so sure. He said that if a female clone is made of a woman who can't reproduce naturally, it would follow that the child, too, would be unable to reproduce.
Also, because the cloning process allows the option between a male or female baby and the embryo must be carried by a woman, it could result in the elimination of men, he said.
"If you can do that, men aren't necessary anymore," he said. "It sounds like science fiction, but it isn't."
* To reach reporter Victor Balta, phone 546-8272 or e-mail
vbalta@recordnet.com
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