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CNN Live At Daybreak
Cloned Baby?
Aired December 27, 2002 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Many scientists question the ability and wisdom, though, of trying to clone a human, but here is how it would be done. Scientists take an egg and remove the genetic material. They insert a cell in the egg, DNA to be specific, and use electricity or chemicals to start the cell dividing. The resulting embryo would then be implanted into a woman's uterus.
Once again, the announcement by Clonaid is set for 9:00 Eastern Time, and CNN will bring it to you live.
For more perspective on this controversy, let's check in with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is in New York getting ready to do "AMERICAN MORNING."
Oh, Sanjay, I have so many questions.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, not surprising. It's one of the most controversial things in medicine. I mean, people have been talking about cloning for quite some time. But actually allowing this group of cells, which we've been hearing so much about, to actually grow into a human being, that hasn't been done. And has it been done now? Who knows. But it is certainly very controversial -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Is it possible that this -- how credible is this group? This group believes that we were all created by aliens, yet they have a lot of money behind them, and maybe they have the scientific know-how. Do they?
GUPTA: You know, it's really hard to know. I'll tell you, I've talked to a lot of my colleagues sort of within the scientific community, and even within the scientific community, people who think about cloning, they are considered sort of a fringe organization.
But everyone sort of keeps an eye on them, as you say, Carol, because, you know, you want to -- you don't want to completely write them off because they do have some money behind them, they do have at least some science behind them. But most of the scientists I've talked to said it's unlikely that they would actually be able to produce a viable clone, meaning a clone that actually can be carried all the way through a pregnancy. Who knows, you know...
COSTELLO: And tell us a little bit about why, Sanjay, because they've even been having problems with cloned animals.
GUPTA: Two hundred and seventy-seven times, that's how many times it took to get Dolly the sheep. You'll remember that. And before Dolly the sheep was born, there were a lot of damaged, defective sheep that were born, and they weren't actually ever carried through all the way to pregnancy. And that's been the greatest concern about trying to clone human beings. Would you create this almost sub-population of human beings if you tried these cloning experiments? It's a very difficult scientific endeavor.
Now, Carol, a lot of people have talked about therapeutic cloning, actually growing an embryo just to the point where you could take some stem cells. That's very different than reproductive cloning, where you'd actually take those same cells and plant them into a woman's uterus, and then allow that to grow into a human being. No one has really said that that's a good idea. Even the scientists don't think that that's -- who are involved in cloning research don't think that's a good idea. It's dangerous, and it possibly could create an entire population of sub-human beings, if you will.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the laws on the books on cloning. The announcement will be made in the United States. It's not illegal to develop a human clone here yet, right?
GUPTA: That's right. And there are four states here in the United States that said that they would not allow cloning. You cannot do any cloning using federal money. That is not allowed. But it is not illegal otherwise. I mean, if you have an independent laboratory and have scientists who can do that, then it's theoretically not illegal.
COSTELLO: Tell us again the dangers about this involving human cloning, and what could happen if they really did clone a human being and brought the baby to term, and the baby has been born.
GUPTA: Well, I'll tell you, I mean, there's a lot of different ways of looking at that. If, in fact, they did clone a human being and the baby is born and the baby looks normal, there are a lot of considerations.
First of all, it's going to need to be independently verified that this is, in fact, a clone. They have to have the genetic material of this baby actually match another human being, probably the mother is what we've been hearing, if that's the case.
Second of all, even if the baby is born relatively normally, what kind of life is this baby going to have? What we've seen in animals, in the cattle and the sheep, is that they have severe medical problems even after they are born. They have enormous weight gains very quickly, dangerously so, 30 to 40 pounds within the first couple of years of life. And oftentimes, they have very premature lives.
But all of that, Carol, is, first of all, if this baby has been born, and second of all, if the baby hasn't been born in some very damaged, defective way, which is most likely what would happen if you try and clone a human being. That's what we saw in the animal trials. It's probably what we'd see in a human trial, and that's why nobody really within the scientific community thinks this is a good idea.
COSTELLO: It's just unbelievable. Again, the news conference is going to happen at 9:00 Eastern Time. Of course, "AMERICAN MORNING" will carry it live.
Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: We'll let you get ready for "AMERICAN MORNING" right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 27, 2002 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Many scientists question the ability and wisdom, though, of trying to clone a human, but here is how it would be done. Scientists take an egg and remove the genetic material. They insert a cell in the egg, DNA to be specific, and use electricity or chemicals to start the cell dividing. The resulting embryo would then be implanted into a woman's uterus.
Once again, the announcement by Clonaid is set for 9:00 Eastern Time, and CNN will bring it to you live.
For more perspective on this controversy, let's check in with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is in New York getting ready to do "AMERICAN MORNING."
Oh, Sanjay, I have so many questions.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, not surprising. It's one of the most controversial things in medicine. I mean, people have been talking about cloning for quite some time. But actually allowing this group of cells, which we've been hearing so much about, to actually grow into a human being, that hasn't been done. And has it been done now? Who knows. But it is certainly very controversial -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Is it possible that this -- how credible is this group? This group believes that we were all created by aliens, yet they have a lot of money behind them, and maybe they have the scientific know-how. Do they?
GUPTA: You know, it's really hard to know. I'll tell you, I've talked to a lot of my colleagues sort of within the scientific community, and even within the scientific community, people who think about cloning, they are considered sort of a fringe organization.
But everyone sort of keeps an eye on them, as you say, Carol, because, you know, you want to -- you don't want to completely write them off because they do have some money behind them, they do have at least some science behind them. But most of the scientists I've talked to said it's unlikely that they would actually be able to produce a viable clone, meaning a clone that actually can be carried all the way through a pregnancy. Who knows, you know...
COSTELLO: And tell us a little bit about why, Sanjay, because they've even been having problems with cloned animals.
GUPTA: Two hundred and seventy-seven times, that's how many times it took to get Dolly the sheep. You'll remember that. And before Dolly the sheep was born, there were a lot of damaged, defective sheep that were born, and they weren't actually ever carried through all the way to pregnancy. And that's been the greatest concern about trying to clone human beings. Would you create this almost sub-population of human beings if you tried these cloning experiments? It's a very difficult scientific endeavor.
Now, Carol, a lot of people have talked about therapeutic cloning, actually growing an embryo just to the point where you could take some stem cells. That's very different than reproductive cloning, where you'd actually take those same cells and plant them into a woman's uterus, and then allow that to grow into a human being. No one has really said that that's a good idea. Even the scientists don't think that that's -- who are involved in cloning research don't think that's a good idea. It's dangerous, and it possibly could create an entire population of sub-human beings, if you will.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the laws on the books on cloning. The announcement will be made in the United States. It's not illegal to develop a human clone here yet, right?
GUPTA: That's right. And there are four states here in the United States that said that they would not allow cloning. You cannot do any cloning using federal money. That is not allowed. But it is not illegal otherwise. I mean, if you have an independent laboratory and have scientists who can do that, then it's theoretically not illegal.
COSTELLO: Tell us again the dangers about this involving human cloning, and what could happen if they really did clone a human being and brought the baby to term, and the baby has been born.
GUPTA: Well, I'll tell you, I mean, there's a lot of different ways of looking at that. If, in fact, they did clone a human being and the baby is born and the baby looks normal, there are a lot of considerations.
First of all, it's going to need to be independently verified that this is, in fact, a clone. They have to have the genetic material of this baby actually match another human being, probably the mother is what we've been hearing, if that's the case.
Second of all, even if the baby is born relatively normally, what kind of life is this baby going to have? What we've seen in animals, in the cattle and the sheep, is that they have severe medical problems even after they are born. They have enormous weight gains very quickly, dangerously so, 30 to 40 pounds within the first couple of years of life. And oftentimes, they have very premature lives.
But all of that, Carol, is, first of all, if this baby has been born, and second of all, if the baby hasn't been born in some very damaged, defective way, which is most likely what would happen if you try and clone a human being. That's what we saw in the animal trials. It's probably what we'd see in a human trial, and that's why nobody really within the scientific community thinks this is a good idea.
COSTELLO: It's just unbelievable. Again, the news conference is going to happen at 9:00 Eastern Time. Of course, "AMERICAN MORNING" will carry it live.
Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: We'll let you get ready for "AMERICAN MORNING" right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
