Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Difficulties in Cloning Techniques
Aired August 07, 2001 - 09:22 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SCIENTIST: We are talking about the development of a technology that can give an infertile and childless couple the right to reproduce and have a child and above all complete its life cycle. This is a human right and should not be taken away from people because someone or a group of people have doubts about its development.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Plans by a group of scientists to attempt human cloning have ignited arguments about the moral and ethical implications and other scientists are warning of serious medical consequences.
Joining us from Mountainview, California is Dr. David Adamson. He is a reproductive endocrinologist and surgeon in private practice.
Dr. Adamson, good morning.
DR. DAVID ADAMSON, REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGIST: Good morning, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the techniques here. Are there techniques that work in animals that do not work in humans?
ADAMSON: Well, these techniques for cloning or for somatic cell nuclear transfer have been tired in animals and there have been some successes such as Dolly. But we have found out subsequently that there have been many difficulties with this technique, including increased rates of fetal death and also evidence that premature aging may occur.
So it's not clear at all that even in large animals these techniques are really safe and certainly there's no evidence yet that in human beings this technology has been proven to work or to be safe.
PHILLIPS: What are some of the other harmful consequences that concern you?
ADAMSON: Well, I think the harmful consequences besides just the straight medical risks are that a population of patients, these infertile patients who are very vulnerable because they so much want to have a family, really are taking risks that they may not be entirely aware of.
And even more important than that, society as a whole is just not ready for cloning, for this type of technology to be applied. And I think it's extremely premature for anyone without basic science and without the clinical evidence to pursue this.
PHILLIPS: Do you think, also, that the moral question definitely should be, I don't know, it should be, come to terms with the moral question, I guess we should say, before it goes any further?
ADAMSON: Absolutely. This type of technology has a huge potential benefit when one looks at therapeutic cloning, which means research in the lab. But the idea that we should be attempting to reproduce another individual, I think, is entirely premature. Society is just not ready for this. There are far too many complicated moral and ethical and clinical and scientific issues that have to be dealt with much better before we should be attempting this.
PHILLIPS: What type of issues do you think need to be addressed specifically for you? What would make you more comfortable? If you had specifics that were answered right now, would you feel comfortable with this?
ADAMSON: It would be very difficult for the science to developing overnight to demonstrate that this were safe and not risky for patients and also that it's an ethically and morally defensible approach. I think we need a lot more basic science in animals, first of all, that we need some very preliminary reproductive research about somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is the sort of the formal name for cloning.
In other words, we need to look at therapeutic cloning, the testing in the lab as opposed to attempts to recreate an individual.
So a lot of basic science has to be done first and a huge amount of discussion among ethicists, lawyers, government and the population needs to take place because society is just not ready to look at this type of technology yet and I don't think that that's going to occur in a matter of a few months or even a few years. It's going to take a long time for us to really get a handle on whether or not this technology will ever be appropriate in society. And I'm not sure that reproductive cloning, in fact, will ever be appropriate.
PHILLIPS: Well, we definitely will continue to follow it.
Dr. David Adamson, thank you so much for your insight this morning.
ADAMSON: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: And for an interactive explanation of different cloning procedures, check out the Web site. You can also take part in our quick vote, would you clone yourself if it was legal and easy? Log onto cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
