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SUNDAY OBSERVER |
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Scientists
pour scorn on doctor's human
clone boast Uproar at press conference as US fertility maverick drops genetic bombshell Jo
Revill, health editor A US fertility
specialist flew into Britain
yesterday to announce that he
had transferred the first
cloned embryo into a woman -
but he refused to give a shred
of evidence to back up his
astonishing boast. With theatrical
flair, Dr Panos Zavos, an IVF
expert from Kentucky, told a
packed press conference in
London that he had created the
first cloned pregnancy. He
said that he had taken a skin
cell from a man and fused it
with the egg of a 35-year-old
woman and that in two weeks'
time they would know whether a
full pregnancy was safely
established. His announcement was
greeted with laughter and
disbelief. A scientist
compared it to recent claims
by the alien-loving Raelian
sect, who say they have
created cloned babies. No details were given
to corroborate Zavos's claim.
All he would say is that it
happened outside Europe and
the US and that it took place
within the last fortnight. The press conference
descended into farce when he
criticised the highly
respected medical journals
Nature and Science, saying he
wouldn't want his work to be
reviewed or published in them
because they did not have
enough experts to deal with
it. Cloning is illegal in
Britain but not in many other
parts of the world, including
the Middle East. Zavos
defended using the technique,
saying: 'I am simply doing
this to help my patients and
to give them the child that
they long for.' During the press
conference Zavos presented
pictures of himself as an
astronaut walking on the Moon
to convey his point that much
was achievable in the future.
He became annoyed when
journalists persisted in
asking questions about why he
had previously claimed to have
created cloned human embryos
without ever providing
scientific evidence that this
is the case. Zavos is no stranger
to controversy. He claimed
back in 2002 that he had
created the world's first
cloned embryo, saying he was
sure he would oversee its
birth by the end of last year.
He said at the time: 'This is
all about creating healthy
children for childless people.
It doesn't bother me at all
that people can't accept it -
they really ought to.' Supported by another
fertility specialist, Dr Paul
Rainsbury, Zavos also
announced plans to offer
couples embryo-splitting, a
technique where one embryo is
divided into two. One part is
implanted into the womb of the
woman and is born as normal,
and the other is frozen and
stored for use in 'spare
parts' surgery in case the
twin should fall ill later in
life. Zavos tried to jus tify
the action yesterday, saying:
'Families in the future will
be looking for possibilities
of ensuring the general health
status of their baby that is
born by having another embryo
that is similar. If the baby
becomes ill, or develops any
genetic abnormalities or
deformities or injuries, then
they can use that embryo to
create stem cells to treat the
baby's disease or
deficiencies.' He had to admit,
however, that no one has ever
successfully performed this on
a human embryo, although it
has been achieved in animal
experiments. 'But all
intentions are that we will,'
he stated. He claimed that
other scientists were 'bad
mechanics' who had failed to
use the right techniques to
achieve the result they
wanted. A chorus of voices
was raised against Zavos.
Robin Lovell Badge, professor
of genetics at the National
Institute for Medical
Research, said: 'He is merely
preying on people's fears.
Firstly he preys on the fears
of infertile couples that they
will never have children.
Secondly, he preys on the
fears of those who do conceive
that their children will have
health problems that could be
solved by the splitting of
embryos - without explaining
that implanting half an embryo
would dramatically reduce
their chances of having a
healthy baby in the first
place.' Many cloned animals
have been born sick or
deformed, and there are few
successful births. In primates
it appears to be even harder;
last year Science reported
about researchers at the
University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine who tried
to clone a rhesus macaque
monkey. Despite hundreds of
attempts they were unable to
establish a single pregnancy. The central obstacle
is that during the development
of a cloned embryo the genetic
material which is parcelled up
as a cell splits in two. The
cells end up with too much or
too little DNA and cannot
survive for long. There are
also fears that any woman who
chose to be a surrogate might
be put at risk as a result of
the untried procedure. Wolff Reik, cloning
expert at the Babraham
Institute in Cambridge, said:
'Absolutely nothing has
changed in relation to the
difficulties associated with
reproductive cloning. In every
experiment, 99 per cent of
clones die in the womb and the
remaining 1 per cent have
problems. Therefore it remains
as irresponsible as before to
do it in a human.' Professor Alison Murdoch, chair of the British Fertility Society, also condemned the work, saying: 'We feel that giving undue credence to this unethical, dangerous and highly experimental field is irresponsible.'
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