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American Morning
Question of Human Cloning Jumps into Spotlight
Aired August 07, 2001 - 07:01 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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: But first, we want to talk about science or sacrilege -- the issue of cloning. The question of human cloning jumps with both feet into the spotlight today. Six hours from now, a couple of international researchers will announce plans to clone up to 200 human beings.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in Washington, where the announcement will be made -- Elizabeth
ELIZEBTH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Colleen.
And we're not just going to hear from this one group that we have been talking to for two days, but their competitors -- another group that's in a race to clone human beings. And then after they have had their say, scientists will talk about how they think this is crazy, unsafe and barbaric.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice over): This man flew to Washington to announce that in November, he plans on creating 200 human clones.
DR. PANOS ZAVOS, FERTILITY RESEARCHER: We want the world to know that we are very confident. We know what we are doing. We have done it before, not this type, but other technologies. And we do intend to do it right.
COHEN: Dr. Panos Zavos, a former professor at the University of Kentucky, and an international team of scientists say they have recruited 200 infertile couples.
For each couple, they plan on cloning the DNA from either the husband or wife to form an embryo, then implant the embryo in the wife to start a pregnancy.
(on camera): Scientists say they are horrified by all of this, not just for ethical reasons but for health ones too. They say cloning experiments in animals have usually resulted in miscarriages. And of the babies that are born, the vast majority have deformities.
DR. JONATHAN HILL, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: The liver, the lungs, the heart, the blood vessels, the placental vessels and the placenta itself are often abnormal at best (ph).
COHEN (voice over): Zavos says the risk of these deformities happening in humans...
ZAVOS: ... are minimal. But at the same time, we don't live in a perfect world. And so the issue concerning this matter, which is a serious matter, is between the patient and their physician.
COHEN: Zavos said he and his team will do their cloning work in two countries where cloning is still legal. He wouldn't identify the countries, except to say that the United States is not one of them.
Zavos says he will use the same technology that produced the Dolly the cloned sheep four years ago. First, the person to be cloned donates a single cell -- say a skin cell. Scientists then take the DNA from that cell and insert it into a human egg, which has had its DNA removed. Then a jolt of electricity causes the cell to divide, just like a normal embryo does. That embryo, which is now a completely identical copy of the original DNA donor, is implanted into a woman's womb.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: At the hearing today, we are sure to have dueling researchers. Zavos told me yesterday that he is going to publicly refute the animal data. He says he just doesn't believe it. And he said that he thinks the risks are minimal when cloning humans, because he can screen the embryos. And he has also said if something goes wrong, he can always perform abortions -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: Elizabeth, it's not often you see scientists fighting in such a public way, but this is a tough, tough issue. I am wondering how much credibility the proponents of human cloning have in the scientific and medical community.
COHEN: You know, they certainly don't have much. Zavos is a former professor at the University of Kentucky. So he definitely is a bona fide scientist. However, people feel like he has definitely gone way out in that he believes that cloning humans is safe.
Many people believe it is possible, but there is no way to do it safe. And many people are saying he has just completely lost it if he really thinks that there is any way to do this safely.
MCEDWARDS: Elizabeth Cohen watching this story for us -- thanks.
In five minutes, we are going to talk with Ian Wilmet, who headed the research team that produced the cloned lamb -- you remember Dolly. Of course, we'll cover today's 1:00 p.m. Eastern announcement of human cloning as well right here on CNN. And tonight, human cloning is the topic in the 10:00 Eastern hour on both "CNN TONIGHT" and "GREENFIELD AT LARGE."
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