Doctor Claims To Have Implanted Human Clone
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday January 19, 2004
A US-based fertility specialist says he has beaten the world to implant a cloned human embryo into a woman's womb and wants more volunteers to join her.
Panos Zavos gave no evidence for his claim, but told a news conference in London he would allow independent DNA testing if the pregnancy was confirmed in the next few weeks.
He said the embryo had come from the immature egg of an infertile 35-year-old woman and a skin cell from her husband. He would not say where the operation was performed, other than that it was not the US, Britain or Europe, nor when, although it was a ``very recent event". There was a 30 per cent chance it would produce the world's first verified clone, he said.
Experts say it is scientifically possible for cloning to happen in humans, as it already has in several mammalian species. One described Dr Zavos as a capable and ``relatively credible" scientist. But they noted that none of the claims by him or other would-be cloners had so far been verified or subjected to peer review.
Cloning involves taking DNA from the donor in this case the woman's husband and implanting it into the egg, which has had its own genetic material removed.
Clonaid, a firm linked to the Raelians UFO sect, says it cloned the first baby about 13 months ago and it is now living in Israel.
While Dr Zavos's announcement prompted outrage and scepticism among scientists and moral crusaders, Arlene Judith Klotzko, a lawyer and bioethicist and the author of a new book, A Clone of Your Own?, to be published this month, said it was ``possible he's really done this". She said cloning might one day bring relief to infertile couples, but ``so far in animals it has been shown not to be safe".
``The problem with all mammalian species that have been cloned and there have been 10 is with gene expression, whether or not they are turned on or off when they are supposed to be. There are no tests for proper gene expression, and problems in gene expression in a clone can occur at any stage from embryo onwards."
The British Government criticised Dr Zavos's announcement and noted the practice was illegal in Britain.
© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald