Clonaid: Baby 'clone' to return home Monday
NEW YORK (CNN) --A company founded by members of a sect that believes
mankind was created by extraterrestrials says the alleged first human clone
-- an infant girl -- will return home Monday and will undergo testing to
verify its genetic makeup.
An independent expert will take cell samples from the mother and girl,
dubbed "Eve," this week and conduct tests to prove they are genetic
duplicates, said Brigitte Boisselier, CEO of Clonaid. The company says its
scientists produced the child.
Clonaid was founded by the Raelians, a religious sect that believes
extraterrestrials created life on Earth through genetic engineering.
Boisselier is a bishop in the movement, led by former French journalist
Claude Vorilhon, who now calls himself "Rael."
Rael said Monday that the baby is "perfectly healthy," and defended the
company against human cloning critics.
"I think opponents to cloning are more afraid of a healthy baby than of a
handicapped child," he said. "They would be so happy the child will be
handicapped, saying, 'Look, this is terrible, they are creating handicapped
children.' Their most utmost fear is to have a healthy, smiling baby,
because then the public opinion will change completely and everybody will
say, 'That's beautiful.' " (Full story)
Citing privacy concerns, Boisselier would not say where home is for the
7-pound baby, which she said was born Thursday. She has already said the
mother is a 31-year-old American citizen.
"I hope that I can disclose everything soon," Boisselier said.
The expert who will conduct the tests won't be identified until after they
are conducted "so that he won't be followed to the place where the parents
are living," Boisselier said.
The expert was selected by ABC's science correspondent Michael Guillen, who
suggested the company allow someone on the outside to verify the process.
The parents must be the ones to decide whether others can then test the
baby to confirm the results, Boisselier said.
'Medical malpractice'
The announcement has been met with fierce criticism, mainly because other
cloned mammals have had serious birth defects or have developed health
problems later.
"I think it is an act of medical malpractice to do human reproductive
cloning when animal data shows how risky it is -- how high the frequency is
of miscarriage, birth defects and even life problems with other species,"
University of Wisconsin bioethicist Alta Charo said. "We've been
unsuccessful at doing this in our closest animal relatives."
Robert Lanza, a researcher with Advanced Cell Technologies, a private
Massachusetts-based genetic research firm, said Clonaid has "absolutely no
scientific track record."
"We are, of course, extremely concerned that if this did, in fact, happen,
that there is going to be a tremendous public outcry, and we will be
concerned with what the Congress does," Lanza said. "Obviously, we are
concerned about there being a backlash against the medical applications of
this technology, which have, of course, the potential to cure millions of
patients."
Saturday, the Vatican condemned the development, saying it displays a
"brutal mentality" lacking "ethical consideration." (Full story)
The White House has also criticized the alleged cloning. (Full story)
Boisselier said she is willing to turn over all her research and evidence
of the cloning process to put to rest doubts about the procedure's success,
but she complained that Clonaid is being singled out from all other private
companies who are not required to hand over their notes. She said revealing
such evidence might reveal the "trick" behind human cloning.
More reputed clonings planned
In January, she said, Clonaid is planning 20 more implantations of human
clones. At that time, an independent expert may attend the process so he
can see the sampling, the growing embryos, and the implantation.
"That's the least I can do, but I cannot spread all my notes," she said.
Eve was allegedly the first baby born of 10 implantations Clonaid did this
year. Five of the implantations failed. The second cloned baby will be born
next week, Boisselier said.
"So far, really, there are no indications of any problems, and I do believe
that this [second baby] will be like Eve -- no problems," she said.
When asked about the imperfect results of animal cloning, Boisselier said
Clonaid's procedure cannot be compared. The problems with animal cloning
are a result of the specific procedures those scientists have used to
reproduce the animals, and not the cloning process itself.
"We are serious people, responsible people, dealing with human beings," she
said. "We are offering to some parents the right and the choice to have a
child with their own genes."
And if, in the process of cloning, Clonaid's scientists should detect
deformities or abnormalities in the child, the fetus will be aborted.
"But from what we've seen, there have been no such things," Boisselier
said. "There have been early miscarriages like in IVF [in vitro
fertilization], but no problems, no defects during the pregnancy."
[]
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/12/30/human.cloning/index.html
[]
[] SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close
Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
[]
">
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
