Cloning the first human.

Prof. Severino Antinori and Dr. Panyiotis Zavos intend to clone a human in the near future. In this programme scientists who oppose them explain why they think the dangers involved are unacceptable. At an Oxford Union debate (2000) Dr. Zavos faces his critics among whom are Prof. Robert Winston (Hammersmith Hospital) and Dr. Harry Griffin (Roslin Institute). Infertile couples considering cloning may be unaware of the risks. Most attempts at cloning animals end in miscarriage or abnormalities. In cloned animals the gene which controls growth is often inefficient, leading to massively enlarged blood vessels, and vital organs may fail to function. Dr. Zavos believes that such problems in a cloned human foetus could be detected before birth but even if this were so, a baby could appear normal at birth and yet develop growth problems in childhood or adolescence. Those in favour of cloning argue that identical twins, natural clones, are free from genetic problems but in one case of male and female twins, proved (unusually) to be identical, the girl had only one X chromosome. She has Turner's syndrome which carries a short life expectancy. Prof. Ian Wilmut (Roslin Institute) says that as genetic errors can occur in natural fertilisation, which has evolved over millions of years, scientists should be wary of cloning, which has a short history and few successes. An assisted reproductive technique other than cloning, IXY, may also carry risks. By this method sperm which are too weak to penetrate the ovum are injected into it. Scientists think that IXY may be connected with abnormalities in the foetus and it is now known that sperm subjected to IXY fail to change their form in the way that occurs with normal fertilisation. There is still a great deal to be discovered here. Cloning goes far beyond this and no human 'experiments' are possible - any attempt will be the real thing. On the basis of work done so far with laboratory animals, mainstream science condemns the cloning of humans.