Peas in a Pod: The Cloning Option, Page 3

Currently 0/5 Stars.

You may use the stars on the left to rate and leave feedback for the current article. No registration is required. Waiting for 5 votes

Part 3: The Major Players

Before taking the leap, consider these four "fundamental realities" noted by Marc Lappe, director of the Center for Ethics and Toxics cloning will not guarantee a healthy child, much less a faithful recreation of the genetic makeup of the donor;
given the present democratic institutions in our country, no one can claim they have a right to be cloned;
comparable medical technology can be used to help many more people to a healthy life--without having to clone them; and
we can't get there from here without some egregious violations of our moral and ethical principles.
If you think that cloning is going to be the answer for your family, meet some of the players.

Want to adopt? Pregnant?
click here

Dr. Richard Seed

In January 1998, Dr. Richard Seed of Chicago announced that he would be opening a cloning lab to aid infertile couples. Dr. Seed is a physicist, and he was involved in an embryo transfer technology that competed against IVF for market share and acceptance. In September 1998, Dr. Seed announced he would be cloning himself and his wife would carry the clone. Dr. Seed's stated motivation in producing a clone of himself was to neutralize criticism that he was using an unproven process to take advantage of desperate families. In December 1998, Dr. Seed was talking about cloning his wife. He also announced plans to set up a cloning lab in Japan by August 1999 to produce cloned pets and rare or endangered animals.

Clonaid: The Raelians

Clonaid was founded in 1997 to clone human beings. Rael, one of the founders, is also the leader of the Raelian movement, which believes aliens genetically engineered life on Earth and that Christ was resurrected via cloning. In October 2000, Clonaid announced they were cloning a dead child for a mother and father. They claimed having 50 surrogate mothers lined up to carry the clones, and the scientific know-how. In March 2001, Rael announced that Clonaid might soon be listed on the stock market with a potential worth of $100 million. In addition, Clonaid claims a list of 1,000 potential customers ready to pay $200,000 for a clone. Clonaid offers other services such as:

storing genetic material for future cloning attempts
cloning pets and championship race horses
selling eggs internationally from a catalog showing photos of the donors

Dr. Severino Antinori and associates

In December 1998, Dr. Severino Antinori, who has a fertility clinic in Rome, and is an infertility researcher, announced his interest in human cloning for infertile couples. In 2001, Drs. Antinori, Panayiotis Zavos, and Avi Ben Abraham announced plans to introduce cloning by 2003 as treatment for male infertility.

Photo is the personal property of Nancy Ashe and may not be used or copied without permission.

Credits: Research: Angela Waner

Add Your Comments!

We want to know what you think. Your comments are important to us and the other readers. You are what makes this site special.