Shock, scepticism greet Antinori's human clone claim

LONDON - Scientists reacted with scepticism and shock to a report that a woman taking part in a controversial human cloning programme for infertile couples was eight weeks' pregnant.

Italian fertility specialist Dr Severino Antinori, who last year announced his intention to create the world's first human clone, has been quoted as saying one woman in his programme was pregnant. He has since refused to confirm or deny this.

"One woman among the thousands of infertile couples in the programme is eight weeks pregnant," Gulf News, a United Arab Emirates newspaper on Thursday reported Antinori as saying.

It said Antinori had been responding to a question at an Abu Dhabi think tank.

It was unclear if Antonori had clearly stated that the woman's pregnancy was a result of cloning.

Contacted at the weekend Antinori said: "I am not talking to journalists" before hanging up.

There was no information as to where the woman was, or from whom the foetus was cloned, if it was.

However, the Sunday Telegraph in London reported that the cloned baby is the son of a rich Arab. Antinori had said that the embryo was the clone of a VIP and that he had been experimenting to produce human clones in an Islamic country.

The newspaper said that Antinori had told Giancarlo Calzolari, a science reporter at Il Tempo newspaper in Rome, that the pregnancy was real and that he had a "limitless supply of money" for experiments.

The Scientific American published claims by Antinori that he had "obtained a cloned human embryo of 20 cells". It is not known if they grew beyond 20 cells.

Fertility and cloning experts expressed doubts over the pregnancy report.

Dr Ehab Kelada, clinical director at the London Fertility Centre, said Antinori must clarify the report immediately. "The scientific community will be very alarmed. If this report is true, it is shocking. We don't know how safe cloning is for humans and it is dangerous to embark on this path without proper regulations or guidelines."

Rudolf Jaenisch, professor of biology and a leading cloning scientist based at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he was extremely angry at the news but very sceptical.

He said the scientific community would have no way or verifying whether the baby, if it existed, was a clone or a normal child.

"It is totally outrageous and irresponsible to attempt cloning of humans when we know there is a very high probability of severe abnormalities, even if the baby survived to birth, which is extremely doubtful.

"In fact, death before birth would be the best outcome."

Richard Nicholson, editor of the Bulletin of Medical Ethics in Britain, said he was sceptical about the report because of the technical difficulties which had to be overcome.

But he believed it was only a matter of time before a woman was implanted with a cloned embryo.



Antinori's plans have been condemned by the scientists who produced the world's first successfully cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep.

Harry Griffin, assistant director of Scotland's Roslin Institute, has said any attempt to clone a child would be wholly irresponsible.

Antinori's move prompted the United Nations to set up a panel last year aimed at drafting an international treaty to ban the cloning of human beings.

The treaty drafting process is expected to take years, but Antinori's reported announcement is likely to give more urgency to the debate.

Human reproductive cloning is banned in Britain and some other countries. But in many states it is unclear how existing laws cover this area.

- REUTERS

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