Let's hope it will not be Manny

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Italian doc says he will clone human

Friday, 26 January 2001 12:41 (ET)

LEXINGTON, Ky., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- An Italian doctor and fertility expert told a lecture at Samaritan Hospital that he plans to attempt to clone a human being within the next year.

Dr. Severino Antinori of Rome said he is treating 10 couples -- including one American couple -- who are candidates for what he described as a therapeutic procedure. Antinori said this is the first time he has made his intentions public.

"Whether we like it or not, we will have cloned individuals in the very near future," said Dr. Panos Zavos, a friend of Antinori, who delivered his lecture Thursday.

Zavos told Friday's Lexington Herald-Leader, "If it's done sensibly and responsibly enough, I think there is a place for cloning in this world. It's going to happen."

Antonini, 55, who is known for his work in assisted reproduction techniques and in developing methods have allowed even women in their early 60s to get pregnant, said the chance to help infertile couples outweighs the ethical objections to his procedure, which he describes as safe.

"Life is important," he said. "The goal to be a father, to be a mother, is a human right, an absolute human right."

Antonini said the cloning attempt likely would be made somewhere in the Mediterranean.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), January 26, 2001

Answers

Neglecting for the moment any ethical quibbles, cloning would be of great interest in resolving once and for all the nature v nurture debate. My guess is that who we are is about 60/40 nature/nurture; maybe 50/50.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), January 27, 2001.